Music - the only useful aspect of Time?

Dear folks!
I wish you a great 2012.

This is the season of Carnatic music. There are more than a thousand concerts that happened in Chennai in the last few weeks alone. The Hindu has a wonderful coverage of all the happenings and thoughts on CM. I am enjoying these things without actually being in Chennai...thanks to digital access.

Read this fine article in The Hindu.

I am giving you three musical links. Each features the same main artiste, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. The mridangam is played by the maestro Palghat Mani Iyer, but the versions differ, renderings separated by decades perhaps. The song is the swarajati masterpiece of syAmA sAstri. He is my favourite composer. This song is very difficult to sing, as it plumbs the depths of the scale and challenges the singer to bring out the beauties of Bhairavi, a typical heavy raga of Carnatic music. The composition seems to have been created for great rhythmic accompaniment. We have here the GREATEST mridangam player thus far in history, playing in very creative ways to embellish the song. (Rightclick and open the Soundcloud track in a new window).

Link- best audio

Link-average audio

Link- poor audio

Those gifted with an ear for Carnatic music would not tire of listening to these items any number of times. After all, I cannot think of anything greater than music to occupy time!

Photographing the Moon

What I learnt, photographing the moon, has been quite interesting.
You need a lens like 600 to 1000 zoom length. You need a very good SLR. You need a very steady hand, as even mounting it on a tripod and using remote exposure has many tricky issues, the reason? Getting the moon in the centre of the view is a challenge, since at that zoom, the moon is moving very fast!

The moon is a very bright object. You need to set a fast exposure, a large aperture, and work on getting the focus right. Take many shots. Only one of them will be good.
Finally, some post-processing doesn\'t harm the photo. I used my favourite, Photoshop Express.

Here is a shot just the other night, right one day after the Lunar Eclipse.
Camera Canon 5D Mk II, Tamron 28-300 VR, 2X doubler, hand-held. exposure 1/320, F6.3, Manual focus.

"Nobody wants to buy the world's cheapest car!"

Why is Nano a failure? Why do I not see the clogged Indian urban arteries displaying vast numbers of the gleaming pea-shaped wonder car?

I read the FT story which says Tata's success with Rover and everything else meant that they would defocus and demote the Nano. Some expert predicted way back that the Nano was "value-destructive".

We of course know of the expensive relocation of the plant from Bengal to Gujarat. But what really is the problem? When I asked my son, who's in the know about cars in general, he said Tata can only build trucks and not cars: their cars lack quality and style.

I got a demo of the Nano seven months ago as we were hoping to get inspired by the Nano for our own internal Super-Value medical device. The demo was pathetic, as the car had a cluncky, dirty and tacky look and feel. The salesman was so inept that he did not know how many Nanos had been sold by the dealer in Bangalore. He was also quick to tell us that one could spend more and get the A/C Premium Deluxe version for well over USD 5K and he wouldn't recommend the basic config. All in all a bad impression.

Today I read another article: Tata Nano Failure

I personally think we have a few reasons for the failure of Nano to take off.

1. Indians want cheap, but at the same time intuit that cheap=poor quality.

2. The car is an Indian middle-class aspiration. The word cheap is not in any aspiration vocabulary.

3. No one, not even Ratan Tata, told the story of the Nano as a wonder car. It was always dubbed a cheap car. Add to that Tata's image of poor quality cars, and you have a killer combo.

4. When Hyundai came in with their ugly cars a decade back, they used SRK to call it a "Tall Boy". SRK being himself of modest altitude, there was a beautiful Indian aspiration built into the theme of a "Tall Boy". All the buttons that would start off a dream for the middle-class. Today there are many small cars costing not too much more than the Nano, coming from famous brands, and having mega ad budgets.

5. Finally, in a cruel irony, Tata themselves advertise a fancier and better car all the time, by using words which pretty much say, "Why settle for less? Go for more!"

How can Tata and India promote the Nano to be the global super brand? I think they need to do some basic marketing stuff here:

1. Promote Nano as the SMART way to drive, not a cheap car.

2. Make it high quality.

3. Avoid feature creep and price upward creep... keep it as a DISTINCT 2.5K$ car.

4. Rope in some smart scientists and techies to advertise.... why it is more intelligent to drive the home-grown Nano and not some far import of technology. which leads to

5. Appeal to the national pride in the famous small car Nano, born in India.

Brilliant, Mr. Branson!

Kudos to the Economic Times for featuring this opinion by the 'other' high flying billionaire entrepreneur, Mr. Richard Branson. I continue to be impressed by this man.

25 NOV, 2011, 06.24AM IST, The Economic Times

Not enough to invest in protecting tiger, but invest in local communities: Richard Branson

The day the United Nations announced that the seven billionth person entered the world, I had made my way to Jim Corbett National Park to learn more about the situation facing India's wild tigers. As the global population grows, we face an unprecedented challenge of maintaining balance in our ecosystems and protecting our limited natural resources while sustaining humanity itself.

With a seventh of the world's human population, India is at the nexus of this challenge. I came to the subcontinent with a group of entrepreneurs together with conservation organisation WildAid and Virgin Unite, the non-profit foundation of the Virgin Group. We experienced the contrasts of India from the sophistication and glamour of the Formula One Grand Prix to unaffected rural life, from bustling cities of millions with constantly honking horns to the tranquility and alarming beauty of Corbett National Park with serene bird calls and the hum of insects.

While India's economic tiger continues to grow unabated despite severe global setbacks, India's wild tiger population is perilously low in number estimated at around 1,600 - and they face threats from deforestation, habitat encroachment, mining and poaching. These threats are not new.

But with tremendous development pressure, few around the world have been able to find room for so powerful a neighbour. My friends at WildAid were fortunate enough to meet President Pratibha Patil during this trip, who confirmed her support and commitment to preserving India's icon. The National Tiger Conservation Authority has also increased resources to coordinate and boost efforts, but key responsibility lies with the states. In Panna and Sariska parks, tigers are being reintroduced and are starting to come back. But perhaps most important of all is the tolerance and understanding of the local communities that surround tiger reserves.

Contrary to popular belief, human development and conservation are not at odds. Wildlife conservation has been a long-standing passion of mine, and I've had the fortune of spending time in South Africa near Krueger Park as well as many other special places in the world. Near Krueger, we have taken steps to support the wildlife as well as help sustain local communities with economic and health services. We've also partnered wonderful frontline organisations like Peace Parks to create national reserves across borders and with the Ocean Elders to protect ocean habitats and biodiversity globally. Virgin Unite and I have also joined Wild-Aid in their work, which has leveraged iconic Indian personalities such as Sachin Tendulkar, Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan to raise awareness about conservation.

Because the trade in tiger parts is international, we are also working with WildAid beyond India's borders to appeal for an end to all trade in these majestic animals. The Chinese government has also come on board, donating millions of dollars of media space to get that message across. But even that's not enough. Saving the tiger is not just about raising awareness. To save the tiger, you must invest in the surrounding community. And this is where business has a key role to play. By mobilising resources to protect the tigers' migration corridors and supporting the health, education and even the electricity of the surrounding communities so they can lift themselves out of poverty, conservation can be good - not only for the soul - but also for business.

If we can harness even a tiny proportion of the entrepreneurial drive that has continued to create tremendous economic growth here in India to conserve nature and the tiger, India will keep its wonderful natural heritage, lead the world in conservation and remain a force for good amidst positive economic growth. I came to India for the chance to catch a glimpse of my favourite animal for the first time in the wild.

Sadly, I wasn't lucky enough to see one, but the gravity of their situation became more evident. It is a great achievement of global importance that a nation of 1.2 billion people has managed to maintain half the world's surviving wild tigers - truly a tribute to the tolerance and foresight of the Indian people. But 1,600 is a low number. When I asked my local guide at Corbett why the numbers are so low, he replied, "The tiger has no voting rights." We must still make sure the tiger and nature have a voice in our decision making and a place in our future. Entrepreneurs need to support the country so that it has the power and the resources to make sure that the tiger population is rebuilt back to safe levels within the next 10 years.

From my experience this week, India will be at the forefront of the human experiment in planetary survival. As our world becomes ever more crowded and frenetic, the value of the tranquility of nature will be ever increasing, but ever more threatened. Despite not seeing a tiger, I left India encouraged and optimistic that India, fuelled by its economic strength, can save the tiger and, with it, an important part of its national identity.

( Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group)

Vastu and the Rupee

The governor of the Reserve Bank of India made a trip early this morning to Mahalakshmi temple in Mumbai. Just outside is the famous Vastu-Numero-Astrologer Pundit whom everyone consults on everything today- naming your baby, changing your movie title and pretty much turning your front door around so fortune favours you.

The Gov asked the Pundit to do something. The rupee was falling! It was touching 53/USD , a prime number, no less, but what next?

The Pundit whispered sagely that the much publicised symbol of the Rupee was the main culprit. Whereas the economy had been buoyed up with so many factors, the economy was being hit by two evil forces... the devas or gods robbing the country of its wealth by stoking up inflation from above and the asuras from the netherworld sucking up wealth from everything,

including red airlines flying in the sky. These events had happened because the Indian Rupee symbol was evil and fostered extravagance. Goddess Lakshmi never likes anyone who goes on a spend binge.

Look at the Rupee Symbol. It has a flat roof but a sliding floor. So all wealth goes down the drain! It has a loft, but the loft is open on both sides. It is ALL WRONG AS PER VASTU!

The flustered Gov asked the Pundit what was to be done. He might lose his job today if the Rupee moved beyond the prime number of 53.

The Pundit had a a ready suggestion. Change the Rupee Symbol. That was emblematic, emphatic and ecstatic.

The new symbol showed a saving mentality, encouraged people to fight inflation and evil robbers. It will be a great way to begin 2012 and make India the world's most powerful economy.

Also considering that Indian economy has four components:

1. The taxed middleclass white money.

2. The rich Swiss black money.

3. The gold in every home that never is seen outside.

4. The infinite wealth among the 850 million poor who don't know that all they need is Rs. 32 per day per person to have a happy life. It is only a question of time before they hit the jackpot on KBC.

The Ultimate Singing Star - Barbra Streisand

Wikipedia says:

Barbra Joan Streisand (born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.

Streisand holds the record for the most top ten albums of any female recording artist - a total of 32 since 1963. Streisand has the widest span (48 years) between first and latest top ten albums of any female recording artist. With her 2009 album, Love Is the Answer, she became one of the rare artists to achieve number-one albums in five consecutive decades.

These two clips are from the movie Funny Girl (1968). I think it is the most powerful performance by a female artist I have seen, and she sings these songs like there is no tomorrow. She won the Oscar.

Photoshop Express - the best for iPhone/iPad

Raw iPhone photo

Photoshop Express output

Simplifly into bankruptcy

We live In a country where politicians are willing to sell the promise of Khadi Gold, a kind of 24-carat gold sold to Aam Aadmi at 10% of normal gold prices stating that our sarkari scientists have used Vedic sciences and Gobar gas to mine gold from Hiranyagarbha or mother earth that is extraordinarily pure and cheap.

We live in a country that saw airlines auction off tickets in the middle of the night so people were able to fly from Delhi to Bangalore for the price of the autorikshaw fare from Jayanagar to old Bangalore airport. We honour those entrepreneurs who ushered in loss-making unsafe airlines that they later sold off to liquor barons who can dream in only one colour, red.

We live in a country quite comfortable seeing (extremely rich) civil aviation ministers solving economic equations involving loss-making airlines, unprecedented airport taxes and 25% rises in fuel costs so people can fly cheap; scamster ministers who when in power secreted away mobile spectrum licences to benefit dubious businessmen, and who later fault, sitting in Tihar jail, auditors for raising the bogey of notional losses to the government of Rs 1,760,000,000,000.-

We live in a country where Aam Aadmi wants to fly CHEAP. So he can save money for his daughter's dowry. Or his wife's gold. And then we watch fly-by-night financiers offer (on TV and in newspaper ads) incredible cash loans against your GOLD!

We live in a country where huge debates in all media clamour that gas prices should be subsidized, cheap airfares be mandatory, and airlines should go bankrupt and die. After all, we are a free market economy built on subsidy and gold!

Remember we worship Rama. He flew first class on a chartered golden heavenly aircraft from Lanka to Ayodhya FREE!

Spielberg's Tintin!

Imagine an experience more fascinating than any action hero film thus far, characters as lovable as Dickens', period scenes straight from the '20s and '30s, action that would put Bond to shame, 3D effects that would give Avatar a complex, a story line that makes you a boy once more, characters so real that you can touch them and feel their spirited breath, and the comfort of a familiar adorable boy hero and his cute dog and swearing sailor of a friend, and you have Spielberg's Tintin. For me Tintin= 1000 x (Harry Potter+Bond+Avatar+Indiana Jones). The 3D effects make you duck flying coins, hide from surging seas, raging fires and sword fights and motorcycle chases that are simply simply edge of the seat for over a couple of hours. No movie makes such an impact before the interval, and carries on merrily afterwards too.
Spielberg's genius is he makes 3D characters come to life, and then assume a doll-like texture so you can play with them almost! Toy Story was toys come to life. Tintin is life made into toys.

Go see it NOW.

I am not just a chair.

If you think I am a cute little chair, think again. Or better, look again.
Yes, I look cute, a cane chair meant for some little angel, to sit by the window and munch nice roasted peanuts or mangoes or something equally delicious. A chair that also witnesses fights and quarrels among children and adults. To be pushed about in the 'goings-on' of grown-ups, or worse get kicked about by kids upset about not getting what they asked for.

So this is what you think, right? Well you're wrong. First,I have belonged to someone for over 50 years. I have been tended and repaired a few times. I sport a new coat of paint (a bit garish in my opinion). I also have a soft pillow with some summer-colour designs. But I don't just sit around, mind you. I record history.

Like when my mistress took me from town to town, using me as the only support for her emotional relief against the constant onslaught of change. Like when the little son of the house did his home work. Or when the little daughter was playing with her dolls standing on me, unmindful when her back was a bit exposed by a loose pyjama.

I have seated my mistress when she read huge tomes written by Tulsidas and Tolstoy. Of late she reads all things spiritual, journals from several ashrams and dead and alive masters. She looks out of the window and reveries about Himalayan masters and psychics and yogis. She also sits in family gatherings of three or more generations, a little quaint amidst fat and slouchy people like my chronicler, who sink into ugly recliners or sit on stuffy stylish wooden chairs. Seated in me, my mistress gives other-worldly views on everything, like cell-phone toting drivers and loud music.

I don't really have any opinion, but I think she's always right. Anyway she never pushes me away from my pretty window or lets anyone take me for granted. So much so that some of the nails sticking out of my cane work makes the casual sitter take notice and walk away, careful not to complain to my doting mistress that I am in disrepair.

You see, I am not just another cute cane chair. It's all about attitude. Where you stand in life depends on where you sit.

Namma Metro Bombat!

I took the Metro today!PS my wife and I were not the only grandparents showing off toothless smiles on the train.

If you want to enjoy my photo in panoramic detail, click here.
Namma Metro is drawing lots of happy revellers. People enjoy the smooth ride, the snazzy stations, and the process of buying and surrendering travel tokens.

Namma Metro makes me proud. Bangalore looks greener than most other cities of the world, the Metro gives you a view of only tree tops, with minimal intrusion of high rises next to the tracks. The stations come and go in a jiffy. In fact the total travel from Byappanahalli to M.G. Road took only 14 minutes! With stops at Vivekananda Road, Indira Nagar, Halasuru, and Trinity Circle. A car ride on a normal day would take 30-40 minutes.

Imagine how many great souls you remember:  Vivekananda, Chinmaya (=Indira Nagar), the Trinity and Mahatma Gandhi. Halasuru means the place where you get juicy jack fruit. That is Bangalore for you!

Byappanahalli is also appropriate. All rulers need to be kept on a leash and those who do bad-mouthing (Byappas) serve a good cause. After all, the last stop for politicians nowadays seems to be Central Jail! I am not talking of the Metro stop.

Have fun in Namma Metro. It is indeed Bombat.

When it rains for more than six months

Dear friend who live outside Bangalore,
Do you now that this picture is from last April? As one who grew up in Bangalore, I was so happy that when temperatures were rising all over India, Bangalore welcomed April showers, delightfully adorning the resplendent Gulmohur trees.
And now it is Nov.4. We had good to heavy downpours three times today. I was thinking it must be raining in Chennai, as it does in Nov., and this sympathetic rain in Bangalore is to cheer up the folks who install statues of Valluvar and frequent Murugan Idli Stall. And what if it rains again in December? I ask you, what next!!!???

When it rains in Bengaluru for six months, it has major global consequences.

- cricket matches are washed out.
- people eat too many bondas and bajjis.
- people like me have excuses for avoiding morning walks.
- people come late to work and leave early.
- the smelly drains are subdued and take their revenge sooner than later.
- roadworks are never completed.
- vegetable prices go up (I don't know why, they always go up anyway).
- Autos raise their expectations.
- umbrellas fold up, unable to weather the onslaught.
- the mood in the office is one of dreamy or sleepy chattiness as work seems a trivial issue.
- Children get wet, get sick and give big business to the million medical shops.
- adults have hoarse voices and ask for lots of coffee which irks the womenfolk at home.
- Bangalore is compared to Ooty etc.and we feel we are in a heavenly hill station.
- Street vendors and beggars are dismayed by poor income.
- mosquitoes are miserable and the only creatures more miserable are street dogs.
- Deepavali is a wet sop.
- Independence day is spent watching TV.
- Bangalore scares me that there is global wetting apart from global warming.
- I write such inane blogs.

Happy Deepavali!

Happy Deepavali! I shot this photo at 40k ft from an Airline magazine ad for Abharan with my iPhone. The best piece of Indian jewellery I saw in a long time.

I am ruminating about Bhakti Yoga Ch. 12 of the Gita for the past few days. How do I really pray to the personal God when I know that everything in this universe seems to be on a kind of Autopilot and everything turns out always right, yes, but nobody seems to be listening to my prayers?

This morning, while listening to Osho on Kabir, I got some answer.
All our love and attachment  and felt need in this world is to expand our being into infinity... this is a primordial urge. The real expansion comes from leaving my petty self, ALSO leaving my petty attachments, my petty prayers (=demands) and then connecting with the Infinite. That process of connecting with the Infinite CAN ONLY BE through love as stated in the Gita... or Bhakti Yoga!

Let me share Edwin Arnold's wonderful translation here (click to see big)... no better way to celebrate Gita, Deepavali and Life!

Garbage, India's symbol of progress

I am struck as I walk along Bengaluru roads by the mounds of garbage strewn at every street corner. Most of it is plastic, and shows how India is progressing economically rapidly. Here are some proofs.

1. Lots of food packaging like Haldiram pouches : food revolution!
2. Lots of wrappers of chocolates, sweets, Pan Parag and chewing gum: youth revolution!
3. Pizza leaflets. Colourful, modern, westernisation!
4. Cheap paper leaflets that spill out of daily newspapers, selling pure silk Punjabi sarees for Rs.130 and so on. Consumerism!
5. Lots of thermocol packaging, the electronics revolution!
6. Lots of carry bags. That is the Mall culture.
7. CD Roms (not many yet): shows that we have moved to the download & piracy era.
8. Just the volume of garbage. Urbanisation!
9. Shikakai Shampoo pouches - Indian women woo beauty products!
10. Disposable Tea cups - by millions - catering revolution indeed.

Now remember, the garbage as a symbol of progress is more ubiquitous than mobile phones, electricity or television, it is from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, and from Himalayas to Arabian Sea.

Jai Ho India!!!

Mahishasuramardini Mural, Mahabalipuram

Happy Vijayadashami!

Time: Steve Jobs, Technology's Great Reinventor

 

"You put soul into technology. Thank you, Steve!"

I bought my first Apple iPod Nano with Nike Sensor kit at their wonderful store on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago 7 years ago. It increased the joy of walking to music, urging me to achieve greater distance and speed, as I walked listening to my beautiful music collection.
I managed to get an iPhone in Sydney a year before it was officially launched there. These products and the iPad I write this on, add a spark to my everyday.
My tribute to Steve Jobs: "You put soul into technology. Thank you, Steve!"
Without adding religious overtones, I can compare what Steve did to technology to the event of Brahmopadesha which makes a man twice born, adding a soul to his body, so he can begin his journey towards liberation. So I really like the Time title "reinventor".

Steve Jobs The Time article link

Wednesday, Oct. 05, 2011
Technology's Great Reinventor: Steve Jobs (1955-2011)
By Harry McCracken
Steve Jobs, whose death was announced on Wednesday night, wasn't a computer scientist. He had no training as a hardware engineer or an industrial designer. The businesses that Apple entered under his leadership — from personal computers to MP3 players to smartphones — all existed before the company got there.
But with astonishing regularity, Jobs did something that few people accomplish even once: he reinvented entire industries. He did it with ones that were new, like PCs, and he did it with ones that were old, such as music. And his pace only accelerated over the years.
He was the most celebrated, successful business executive of his generation, yet he flouted many basic tenets of business wisdom. (Like his hero and soulmate, Polaroid founder Edwin Land, he refused to conduct focus groups and other research that might tell him want his customers wanted.) In his many public appearances as the head of a large public corporation, he rarely sounded like one. He introduced the first Macintosh by quoting Bob Dylan, and took to saying that Apple sat "at the intersection of the liberal arts and technology." (See photos of the long and extraordinary career of Steve Jobs.)

NSC Bose Airport Kolkata - Didi, please do something!

I am waiting for my Spicejet flight to Bengaluru. I came more than 3 hours before departure as I got SMSs and calls telling me of the huge Puja rush. Since I already had a very bad experience of this airport in last May transiting to Bhutan I wanted to take no chances.

Everyone tells me that Ms. Mamata Banerjee or Didi has fixed a number of things including getting banks to serve the Puja rush without downing shutters for 5 days at a stretch. I hope she can fix this airport. Here is my list of things:

1. The airport wears a decrepit look like many other buildings in Kolkata.
2. As usual you find many people coming to see off their beloved ones and like in Sahar or IGI, you can be put off by the milling humanity.
3. The airport check-in counters wear a scraggy look and show the staff as harried, perhaps exhausted dealing with crowds.
4. This airport handles LOTs of flights, from the Seven Sisters, Bhutan and Sikkim, and all metros etc. So you generally find lots of passengers waiting.
They do not have enough seating, eating, clean toilets or easy security checks. The air-conditioning was working today, but last time was ineffective.
5. Such crowds and poor ambience allows people to show their 'lower' side chucking foil wrappers and snack packaging here and there.
6. There are not enough seats, and some of them are stained with food/vomit not cleaned for a long time. Many cushions are damaged.
7. There is lousy eating. Budget travel means you eat before the flight. Given long waits for flights, one has to make do with some overworked cafeterias selling wraps and sandwiches. There is no sense in limiting catering facilities.
8. There is hardly any shopping and I did not see any bookshop after security.
9. The international airport is woeful and much worse than the domestic terminal. I also found last time loud-mouthed staff making a huge racket about something, totally impervious to the irritation this caused passengers. Add to that overflowing dust bins into which staff and passengers alike spit their pan masala stuff. What a poor advertisement for incredible India.

Pretty bad experience. I wonder where international travellers and airport rating agencies rate Kolkata. Cannot be very high.

Happy Durga Puja!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Worshipping the Mother - Navaratri

Navaratri is the auspicious time for Hindus to worship the Mother. Not only are the northern and eastern parts buzzing with Durga Puja and Chandi Homa, the south is equally busy with beautiful temple rituals for Devi. Many great Carnatic songs celebrate the Devi, and Swati Tirunal and Dikshitar are famous. The Vibhakti (correction: Kamalamba Navavarana) kritis of Muthuswami Dikshitar are extremely popular during Navaratri festivities.

Meditating on these aspects, I was struck by some thoughts. The western civilization since the Greeks has extolled the pursuit of beauty, goodness and truth as the goals of human existence. We Hindus on the other hand speak of Purusha and Prakriti, as the Father Creator and Mother Creation, by whose grace man pursues the four goals of life: right living (Dharma), economic prosperity (Artha), emotional well being (Kama) and finally Liberation (Moksha or Nirvana). Creator and Creation, the male and female principles, somewhat combine into the Mother Worship idiom, where the Mother is everything.

Let's even concede that the Mother principle is just a spiritual idiom, for an aspirant intent on a path of devotion and aesthetic appreciation of all creation's bountifulness and beauty. Almost immediately we also think of the fearsome aspect of Durga, vanquishing evil. So Mother has a corrective power too. So how is this relevant in a basic sense, devoid of ritual and legend?

I think man is essentially waking up to the connectedness of the universe, and how there is a harmony woven by Mother Nature such that man will prosper through harmony rather than conquest. By elevating Nature to Motherhood, we seek to approach life with love and grace. We also accept its fury, be it a tsunami or an earthquake or a flood, as an Omnipotent will that corrects man's course in ways that cannot be understood. Such an attitude removes tension and allows us to enjoy and partake of life's plenty without rancour. And then we can also become inventive and creative, to make this world even more beautiful and comfortable, fully aware that what we accomplish is much less important than just the attitude of creativity. So all this becomes an art, like music and dance, which cannot be measured in terms of money but more in terms of its inner joy. By cooperating with Nature, we also accomplish better utilisation of its generosity, rather than a plunder that lays low everything in ravage and ruin.

Don't you agree that this seems to be the core of our Mother worship? Come, let us enjoy the famous Dikshitar Dhyana kriti in Todi, with wonderful thoughts and even better music. Over to Smt. Seetha Rajan. Kamalambike


rAga: toDi (8) tALa: rUpaka
muttusvAmi dIkshita viracitam (source Carnatica.net)

pallavi

kamalAmbike Ashritakalpalatike caNDike kamanIyAruNAMshuke karavidh.rtashuke mAmava

anupallavi

kamalAsanAdipUjitakamalapade bahuvarade kamalAlayatIrthavaibhave shive karuNArNave

caraNam

sakalalokanAyike saN^gItarasike sukavitvapradAyike sundari gatamAyike
vikaLebaramuktidAnanipuNe aghaharaNe viyadAdibhUtakiraNe vinodacaraNe aruNe
sakale guruguhakaraNe sadAshivAntaHkaraNe akacaTatapAdivarNe akhaNDaikarasapUrNe

Word by word meaning:

Oh Goddess kamaAlmbika (the Lotus mother) who is like a Kalpaka tree (that grants all boons) to those who seek refuge in you; fierce one, one of the ten aspects of shakti, attractive wearing the red robe, holding a parrot in the hand, protect me!

Worshipped by Brahma and other gods, possessing lotus feet, showering plenty of boons (to devotees), imparting greatness to the tank KamalAlaya, auspicious one, ocean of mercy, ruler of all the worlds, delighting in music, granting the boon of poetic genius, beautiful one, who has transcended the illusion, adept in granting salvation, one who dispels all sins, who emanates the five elements, space, air, fire, water and earth, with enchanting feet, reddish full, complete, mother of Guruguha, inhabiting bespoke godliness of Lord Shiva, the embodiment of all letters, a, ka, ca, Ta, ta, pa etc, one filled with matchless bliss!

The demanding rasika in Carnatic music

These thoughts have been crowding my mind ever since I attended a concert featuring an upcoming youngster, with a good friend. On the way back home we both remarked how demanding we are as rasikas and therefore are not easily pleased even when the musicians seem to put in a very sincere attempt.

The icon shown above is the (welded?) mural on the wall of Madras Music Academy. That hoary institution symbolizes power and influence in Carnatic music and getting their Sangeetha Kalanidhi award is commonly taken to be the peak of a musician's journey to success. I think the thousands of music concerts held every December in Madras, or Chennai if you prefer, demonstrate how Carnatic music is actively appreciated in our land. The musicians work very hard in the season and make or break their reputations. The enthusiasm of the musicians or rasikas is the same whether they are old or young. By the way rasika is the Sanskrit word for a listener=audience=appreciator=aesthete in Indian art. Rasa means originally juice and implies the aesthetic mood in performing arts. Rasika is the one who enjoys the art form, in a live or broadcast or recorded performance.

Now why do I think we rasikas are too demanding in Carnatic music? I merely give a summary list because I could go on ad infinitum on each point:

1. We like good, robust, pleasant voices. We want a full range of three octaves. We want the singer to perform with full throated ease, but with the perfect sruthi alignment of a pitch pipe.
2. We want good diction. Our music is made up 80% of compositions of "saint composers". We want the musician to enunciate all the words, especially in our own languages, to perfection. By the way we expect a minimum of three or four languages to be covered in a concert. The more versatile performers today cover Telugu, Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi and if possible Hindi.
3. We want everything in the right measure. We don't want hour-long alapanas, we don't want concerts packed with 25 numbers delivered at break-neck speed.
4. We want the performers to be well groomed and well presented. We prefer them to look like gods and goddesses. Or at least like well-groomed cine stars in mythological extravaganzas of the '50s and '60s.
5. We want good accompaniments. The violinist should show anticipation, innovation, moderation, subordination, restoration (when the main performer is off-colour) and good preparation. We don't care if the vocalist is spinning a googly. We want the violinist to bat like a Tendulkar facing Warne. At the same time we don't want the main vocalist to have nightmares like Warne did thinking of Tendulkar.
6. We want sonorous, soft, soothing, superlative mridangam. We want a good tani, full of fireworks, but it should be short and sweet. And the mridangam artiste should not grimace if we walk off for a short break during the tani. He can be sure we will be back to applaud at the end.
7. We actually don't care for ghatam or khanjira etc. except for some delightful skirmishes during the tani. The ghatam makes an impact when the artiste launches it into the air at the end of the tani.
8. We want good mikes. The mike should not be too loud, for heaven's sake.
9. We want no mosquitoes or screeching chairs. We don't mind loud banners selling bank FDs and stainless utensils or even divine pooja materials. But we don't want speeches.
10. We want the concert to start before we walk in (this is a common practice for Carnatic rasikas) and still want prime seats. We may exercise the right to walk off any time. By the way, please note we prefer free concerts.
11. We will bring children, and some of them will do home work, some will sleep, and sometimes some will make loud sounds. All like baby Krishna.
12. We like to sing a bit during our favourite songs. We will keep (or destroy) the tala. It is not for nothing that I have passed a Diploma in music.
13. We hold the right to constantly compare the present performers to our old favourites, whom we refer to by initials only like MMI, SSI, GNB, BMK, DKP, MLV, MSS, MDR, KVN, LGJ, TNK, MSG, VVS, PMI, UKS.....

Music: finding the big invisible pieces inside

In Venice, 2005 (where else!?)

Music makes me breathe. I also could say music wrenches my innards, crunches my guts, makes me feel like dying. And my great friend Prabhakar led me to the piece below.

At last I know:

Karl Paulnack to the Boston Conservatory Freshman Class

Posted on March 11, 2009 by fttgreenroom

Dr. Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at The Boston Conservatory, gave this fantastic welcome address to the  parents of incoming students at The Boston Conservatory on September 1, 2004:

Karl Paulnack
“One of my parents’ deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly value me as a musician, that I wouldn’t be appreciated. I had very good grades in high school, I was good in science and math, and they imagined that as a doctor or a research chemist or an engineer, I might be more appreciated than I would be as a musician. I still remember my mother’s remark when I announced my decision to apply to music school-she said, “you’re wasting your SAT scores!” On some level, I think, my parents were not sure themselves what the value of music was, what its purpose was. And they loved music: they listened to classical music all the time. They just weren’t really clear about its function. So let me talk about that a little bit, because we live in a society that puts music in the “arts and entertainment” section of the newspaper, and serious music, the kind your kids are about to engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, in fact it’s the opposite of entertainment. Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it works.
One of the first cultures to articulate how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you: the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us. Let me give you some examples of how this works.
One of the most profound musical compositions of all time is the Quartet for the End of Time written by French composer Olivier Messiaen in 1940. Messiaen was 31 years old when France entered the war against Nazi Germany. He was captured by the Germans in June of 1940 and imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp..................................... 

You can read the rest of the piece by clicking on this link. And if you want some fabulous music, watch this.

Better than Edison's Bulb

A wonderful story sent by a good friend lit up my morning. I later found out more details from Mainichi News: this technology was used in the past variously in skylights in the Middle East and in walls in Mexico. It has been recently adapted in Philippines, and has made much impact.

Here's more information http://isanglitrongliwanag.org/

Why pluck flowers?

 It's the twilight hour. There is a fragrance in the air, the birds are atwitter, the mosquitoes are just getting their first (or last, at dawn) bites of the day. Those busy commuting are grappling with ground realities. Some lucky ones are stealing a few quiet moments of contemplation and solitude. But many, believe me, many even today, are busy surruptiously sneaking around streets, plucking flowers. Roadside flowers or home garden flowers peeking over the compound wall. This is a frequent sight in my parts.

Some are doing it with obvious relish, looking and hunting down the best flowers, much like a fastidious lady chooses her ladies fingers (okras) at the vegetable shop. Some men hurry along, muttering the holy name, clad in prayer attire, with the efficiency of the worshipper, hardly looking at the flowers as they pluck and dump them into their sachets. Some are simply making the rounds of their favourite street corners and houses, and getting the daily quota, glad of their divine routine.

Now, for heaven's sake, why pluck flowers?

I think flowers don't like to be plucked. They are there to please, and essentially want to be pollinated. They have their own agenda. They want to become lovely fruits and then seeds. It is the turn of fruits and seeds to be plucked, and dispersed. Have you noticed Nature doesn't pluck flowers, but only fruits? But man heard God's voice saying 'offer Me a (mere) leaf, a flower, a fruit or a drop of water, and thou shalt have pleased Me' (Bhagavadgita IX.26) The key words, 'with devotion', have been ignored, as we think that offering flowers or adorning the deity with flowers is important as an aesthetic or fiduciary task and will reap its due reward.

I love flowers, alas it is their fate that they are here to serve man. They shalt be plucked, trimmed, dressed, arranged, bunched, bouqueted, vased, strung into a garland, decked into hair, stuck on the ear, smelled, touched, admired, and finally thrown away. The Sanskrit word for a flower being removed from God's adornment is 'nirmaalya'. Here is the meaning from Sir Monier Williams' dictionary:

nirmAlya mfn. cast out or left from a garland , useless; worn the day before; n. the remains of an offering to a deity , flowers left at a sacrificial ceremony; stainlessness , purity; a garland made of flowers left at a sacrifice.

FDA - or my fight against Dalda and such

Forbid Dalda Additives/Alternatives or

FDA

I have just inherited an allergy from my grand children. They are allergic to Dalda and such. I did a quick check and found to my horror that MOST BAKERY PRODUCTS ARE LOADED WITH DALDA OR VANASPATI. Also ADIGAS USE DALDA.

And this thing is deadly dangerous. It is better to eat asli ghee and get clogged arteries rather than eat these alternatives called Transfats and be run over by disease. This is my educated view. Please read below. Both McDonald's and Burger King advertised in 2007 that they would eschew Transfat. Some comfort for some of us.

Can you think of adulteration in this thing? Read about the Jain Shudh Vanaspati story. Their Vanaspati was adulterated apparently with Beef Tallow. So no salvation here or hereafter!

Another Shudh Adulteration story.


FDA Information Sheet ( this FDA is another body called Food and Drug Administration, US of A)

Quote from the Times of India:

Difference between margarine and butter:Both Margarine and butter contain the same amount of calories present in them. On the contrary butter contains natural fats, which are essential for the strengthening the bones and has many nutritional benefits.
Ill-effects of margarine:Excess intake of margarine can worsen illnesses such as colitis and arthritis. The hardening agents used in the production of margarine include nickel and cadmium. Nickel is a toxic metal that when consumed in excess, causes lung and kidney problems. Cadmium is among the most toxic of the heavy metals. It may contribute to serious diseases such as arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure and malignancy. The study conducted at Harvard University, found that a diet high in trans-fat, which doubles the chance for heart attack and decreases life expectancy.

Scalp Therapy

You’d have read this earlier, but I wanted the precarious fast of Anna Hazare to be ended amicably before embarking on this esoteric discourse.
In short: you will learn here how the entire hair colouring, enhancement, conditioning, management and restoration industry has been taking you for a ride. It’s belly-achingly laughable how people, particularly Indians, dye their hair jet black long into their crows-feet-around-the-eyes years. Overseas people make much fun of this Indian need to have black hair even in one’s denture days. And then of course Harsha Bhogle spent $150K to get a hair weave or something. Every newspaper and TV ad today urges you to get new wavy Aishwarya hair, black or any colour of your choice, and run away into the sunset. I have just learnt how this whole thing is a fraud.
You see, hair is NO indication of youth or life energy. Hair is in fact dead cells! Did you know hair grows even on corpses in their tombs? That is a kind of cell multiplication unconnected with your vital energy. We are therefore focussing on something lifeless and totally undependable. The real substratum of life is the scalp. We should therefore be focussing on scalp therapy.
In a liberated world, shorn of the hair hype and free from corruption (thanks to Jan Lokpal), we would be talking rightly of scalp therapy.
It doesn’t matter that you have less hair, grey hair. Or no hair. You do have a scalp, dammit. And that is the gateway to vital forces. It is even called Brahma Randhra by more erudite yogis.
You should know by now, if you have been reading my blog or such scholarly scribes, that the Kundalini or Élan Vital traverses from the base of your spine to the top of your scalp in seven stages or Chakras. The chakras show where your energy is currently resident, and your final goal is to reach the top. (It’s always so, except in the case of a fire emergency, when you should take the stairs down to the street).
If you place your scalp under an electron microscope, you can actually see, based on the cell pattern, what is the chakra where your energy is staying put.
Muladhara – people waiting at this bus stop have afro hair, uncontrolled passions, and generally undependable behaviour. The microscope will show a lumpy pattern like a dug up road in Bangalore (e.g. near Garuda Mall).
Manipura – as the name suggests, such people have soft, straight hair, and not much beard etc. Their micro pattern is that of a honeycomb-like structure. They make good bow and arrow experts.
Swadhisthana – these are the brylcreemed CEO types. They are very status conscious. Women of this type frequently change their hair colour and styling. As such they are vainglorious. Micro pattern like a dollar sign.
Anahata – These are the romantics. They have a lock hanging in the front, and have a far-away look. Often they have to push the hair back to see where they are heading or what they are eating. The micropattern is a heart sign.
Vishuddha – these types are generally thin on top or balding. They have peaky craniums and behave as if they know best. They have booming voices. The micro type is that of a microphone.
Ajna – these guys are generally the politician or guru or fasting activist types. They have bald heads and long flowing grey beards (politicians are clean shaven because they shave up all the time). Micro patten is that of an open palm.
Sahasrara – this is the final type. This micro pattern is lotus shaped. Buddha and such have this style. It is beyond afro/vain locks/bald types. Once you are in that scalp stage, the gateway is going to open soon. Such people don’t bother with hair therapy so they are not a target market.
I just heard Baba Indiyogam is launching a whole range of scalp therapy products. Perhaps he is collaborating with the Japanese water expert who said that if you coo words like “I love you” to a bottle of mineral water, the water’s crystalline structure will become beautiful. Check out Emoto.

Anna vs govt. Draft of Lokpal bill

Intellectuals please read this and tell me if Anna is crazy.

Oh the bliss of working from home!

It's no longer about cricket, silly

Why did India lose so badly in all 3 tests so far and lose its #1 status to England? Pundits and politicians alike are tut-tutting about it. But it's really VERY simple, silly!

1. Indians love cricket but what's the charm of test cricket when it has no Bimbos nor Billions.
2. English conditions favour FAST swing bowling.
3. IPL needs a mighty cross-heave batting style (Remember Helicopter Shot, Dhoni Thresher) incapable of tackling swing bowling.
4. Nobody can play cricket 365 days a year. Add also modelling duties and swing parties. Then you get tired bodies and minds.
5. The margin of defeat shows England were FAR superior to a weary IPL side.

India loves a Bollywood style of cricket. Let's call it BOLLYCRICKET. it's no longer about cricket, silly.

The high chair for home office

There comes a point in the affairs of men when one doesn't really hang up his VPN and mouse and yet it's time to sit back and do just enough to feel like one still is adding some value. I am at that point. And so this chair. High backed, back-support et al. Hope to snooze on it on lazy afternoons and even mornings and evenings, when I am not rocking the world from my vantage point of semi-retirement.
Feels really nice, and at Rs.7.8K, my daughter called it a steal. She should know, having been a Herman Miller intern.

PCMB, or is it BPCM?

You know, when we went to school, we were told PCMB is the essential combination of subjects of study if you wanted to get on in life.  Later I learnt the hard way that it is love that makes the world go round.

At last I see the connection! Eureka.

Biology ... the inborn trigger to seek your loved one.
Physics ... all the motions of love. Oh the starts and stops.
Chemistry... it is what you have or don't, for each other. And that's what makes it happy or sad.
Maths... our calculations about our lives so we build castles- in the air of course. Maths is abstract indeed.

So don't ever say all that PCMB was a sheer waste. 

Seven births of good karma...

India is the sacred land. If you're reborn after seven births of consecutive good karma, you're born here, the land of the Himalayas and Ganges. In this birth, you have a chance to be liberated, and attain Nirvana.

In Raam Raajya, a mere dhobi could point a finger at the Queen and have her banished. We have come a long way from those days, and that is why your chances of liberation have increased a zillion times. You see, dear sir or madam, we are now in India that is 'Daam Raajya'. That means everything here has a price, and nobody can Lokpal even a corrupt Prime Minister. Someone who points a finger at him, like Raja of the 1.76 lakh crores scam, is already in Tihar Jail and has no credibility. So no dhobi can sanitise our nation. Politicians are protesting that public accountability is a tyranny of the unelected!

If you want to become a pilot or a brain surgeon, we have a price for it. No need to go to school. No need to write exams. There is a price for everything in Daam Rajya.

It takes, as someone said, six minutes to cross a zebra crossing on a busy road. Better you take your six minutes. If you're run over, it is unlikely anyone will entertain even a police complaint, forget insurance.

If you want to join a decent college, you must know that the cut-off is 100 percent. Anything less and you better be willing to pay the price.

Pay taxes. Be honest. And suffer a thousand miseries: Power cuts. Water shortage. Dengue and malaria and swine flu.

Who cares for you? Your favourite godman. He will show you the way to Nirvana. Meanwhile, he may be raided, or filmed in a compromising posture, or be found with a few billions of cash.

You see, the god of your salvation in Daam Rajya is Kubera. He happens to be the brother of Ravana. And he strikes a handsome pose. See the picture at the top.

Happy Nirvana!

Beedi Basava Bhimplas

On many a weekend I find
A colourful visitor on our streets.
It's a bedecked Basava or bull(ock) behold!
Strolling along with his master playing his beguiling pipe-
Nadaswaram - the happy music of temples and weddings.

I won't call it begging although some coins are expected from every onlooker.
Because
the piper charms with his music, and the beast is indeed a beauty.
I am reminded of our star musicians, with their spouses in tow.
The spouse seems nonchalant, without a care-
Unmoved by the music, or our stare.

When did we Indians become greedy?

Today's Hindu features an inspiring interview with the surviving king of Travancore, who calls himself Padmanabha Dasa. He explains that being a king, like Henry VIII, confers enormous acquisitive powers and one can excuse greed by adducing the title to himself as the Defender of the Faith. The other extreme attitude, which goes even beyond trusteeship, is to call oneself the servant of God. Even Gandhi was impressed with the utter simplicity of Travancore kings, and their temple was the first to allow all castes to enter its precincts.

These days we read only about two things. The greedy thieves who become our politicians, and how rich are our temples and god-men. For a yoga guru to own an inland off Scottish shores and declare a mere Rs.1100 crores ($2B and change) as his assets seems passé. After all, we have always called God Ishwara (possessor or riches) or Sri Devi (the goddess of wealth).

But juxtapose this with our idea of sannyasa, the stories of Buddha, Ashoka, and Gandhi, and even this story of Padmanabha Dasa, and we arrive at a conundrum. Indians worship poverty, and yet show immense greed. Perhaps the two go together, as fasting and feasting are both endemic to our culture!

But all this discovered temple wealth (the recently catalogued wealth of Rs.100,000 crores and more in Padmanabhaswamy Temple vaults) and hoary fables of Vijayanagara where precious stones were weighed in scales like common commodities raise one key question. It does seem that India had immense wealth once. Like in Somnath temple looted and ravaged by Ghazni; and the Kohinoor diamond and the Peacock throne, which invited invasions and pillage. It is well documented how the East India Company methodically stole the jewels from our crown, as it were. Now, can we relate the three together, our historic wealth, our historic spirit of worshipping self-abnegation, and our recent symptoms of untrammelled greed?

My theory is this. In a land of plenty, man starts to aspire to higher things. Hence wealth becomes a mere means to an end. Sacrificing lower wealth to aspire to higher ends (witness the Story of Puran Bhagat as narrated by Kipling). But when Indians have lost our higher moorings and also been bitten by the fear of losing all to invaders and thieves, we become victims of lobha. That is the Sanskrit word for greed.

And perhaps in the past we worshipped God as not a symbol of lucre, but a higher value of bliss or Ananda. So we went to Badrinath and Padmanabhaswamy temples, not known for their wealth.

But having lost bliss, we now settle for $$$$. So the greatness of a god-man and the popularity of a temple are to be a function of their wealth, measured in tons of gold and dollars in billions.

The first ten days in Bangalore

Bangalore is busy, dug up, smelly in spots, and quite tough to navigate on any given day, especially Saturdays and Sundays. Everyone is on the verge of road rage given the missed meetings and wasted hours.

A million eateries have sprung up offering every kind of regional fare as well as fancy international cuisine.

Most waiters are clueless what the dishes are and can't speak your language, whatever it may be.

People are lovely, wanting to help and trying to make a living.

The TV is full of Bollywood Khans, godmen and marauding newsmen.

Mosquitoes have become extra-powerful and bite at all times of the day and night.

Come to Bangalore, the 24/7 city with all action funda:

The Khans sear my screen all day.

Godmen hop and mosquitoes don't stop.

Stuck in traffic, I don't care.

I have a date with my favourite buffet.

God's Syllabus

Exam time, admission time, tension for everyone. When we choose different subjects, do we know who their presiding deities are? It will surely help if we can assign each god or goddess to our favourite or not so favourite subject. So here is a simple way to classify.

Ganesha - Physics

Saraswati - Chemistry

Lakshmi - Maths

Durga - Biology

Shiva - Medicine

Brahma - Engineering and Technology

Vishnu - Management.

Of course, one should say this in Sanskrit to sound truly impressive:

Saraswati in Medhaa Sukta

Thanks to Chinmaya Balavihar, our daughter Sumana chanted this sitting on the banks of  Nachiketa Tal near Uttarkashi in the year 2000. She was ten. Nachiketa Tal celebrates the spot where Nachiketa, the famous aspirant of Kathopanishad, meditated. It is high in the hills, is a beautiful lake surrounded by a lovely forest full of  rhododendrons. 

What's wrong with Husain's Saraswati

After reading reams of regret expressed by artistic admirers of Husain as to how he was hounded for his 'Saraswati' and other paintings, I decided to find out what the fuss was about. Here is his sketch. I am afraid my sympathy for this great artist has dimmed after seeing this sketch. Here are the reasons.

An artist is first and foremost in search of a viewer to see his art. Some artists like Husain sell their paintings for good money. Therefore an artist needs to have a sensibility and a sensitivity to the viewer. For example, if I were to paint a sketch of Husain eating crap along with a pig in a gutter, however famous an artist I might be, I would not be serving art or respecting the sensitivity of the viewer, even if he were himself a liberated artist like Husain.

Because the fundamental principle of art is not to cause revulsion or disgust in the viewer but a sense of beauty or wonder. On this score this painting fails the test...since it is meant for people who know who Saraswati is. For such people Saraswati represents grace, wisdom, art, knowledge and enlightenment. Just putting together a woman, a peacock, a veena, a lotus and a fish does not become a painting of Saraswati. For those who detest Saraswati, it may have some appeal. But such an intention would be perverse.

Second, from those tributes to Husain, it seems he researched Hinduism. I am afraid his knowledge of Saraswati is dismal. Saraswati is a Vedic goddess, the mother of Vedas, who is pictured as seated in the middle of a lake (saras), is also identified with the mythical river of knowledge and as one who imparted Vidya or the ultimate knowledge to mankind. She is clad in white, seated on a White lotus, plays a veena, carries prayer beads and a book of scripture. There is no fish or lotus in her hand mentioned. Husain's woman is holding up a lotus and a fish is gurgling bubbles(!!). Looks incongruous.

The woman is sitting voluptuously and has let the veena slip from her grasp. Why? To hold aloft a lotus. And then the left hand is busy holding up an invisible load...

The veena itself seems abandoned, whereas all Hindu imagery of Saraswati extols how beautifully she holds the veena, with grace and dignity. The lotus held aloft seems disjointed, maybe Husain's depiction of the optical principle of refraction.

Now let us grant Husain all artistic liberties. Is this sketch truly art? Here is a wanton woman, who has let slip her veena so she can hold up a lotus and gesture something. It is the image of a senseless woman. It calls for stupidity or perversity to call it Saraswati, as Husain did. What a far cry from the depiction of the Vedic goddess! What a shame compared to Kalidasa's Shyamala Dandakam!

I think Husain's repeated attempts to scandalise Hindus with his imagery of gods and goddesses would give rise to only two options. Either pronounce him mad, or lock him up. Driving him out of India wasn't perhaps a nice thing.

Dakshinamurti - the God who guides spiritual aspirants

I began the day listening to a soul-stirring rendering of this great Dikshitar kriti in Shankarabharanam sung perhaps by Semmangudi and accompanied by K.S. Narayanaswamy on the veena, without any mridangam. What an experience! Wanted to share it... pieced together from many Internet sources. I sincerely thank these anonymous benefactors...

dakshiNA mUrtE - rAgaM SankarAbharaNam - tALaM jhampa

pallavi

dakshiNA mUrtE vidaLita dAsArtE

cidAnanda pUrtE sadA mauna kIrtE

anupallavi

akshaya suvarNa vaTa vRksha mUla sthitE

raksha mAM sanakAdi rAja yOgi stutE

(madhyama kAla sAhityam)

rakshita sadbhaktE Sikshita duryuktE

aksharAnuraktE avidyA viraktE

caraNam

nikhila saMSaya haraNa nipuNa-tara yuktE

nirvikalpa samAdhi nidrA prasaktE

akhaNDaika rasa pUrNArUDha SaktE

aparOksha nitya bOdhAnanda muktE

(madhyama kAla sAhityam)

sukha-tara pravRttE svAjnAna nivRttE

sva-guru guhOtpattE svAnubhOga tRptE

Dakshinamurte Shankarabharanam Dikshitar