Jerusalem - sung at the Royal Wedding

This is a great poem by William Blake:

Blake's poem

And did those feet in ancient time.
Walk upon England's mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On England's pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England's green & pleasant Land

You can read more about it in Wikipedia.

This was recited in the Westminster Abbey yesterday at the royal wedding. Enjoy it on You Tube:

Ten symptoms of Dhoni-ism

Ranchi Mental Hospital

Time 100 of 2011 named Mahendra Singh Dhoni one of the most influencial persons in the world. The List shows many names most Indians are not aware of. But in the last 24 hours PTI pretty much implied that Dhoni, rated above Obama, Ambani, Premji and neuro-scientist Ramachandran, is the biggest thing that happened to India since Mahatma Gandhi.

I call this syndrome Dhoni-ism. Its symptoms include and go beyond cronyism and crazy-ism. To recognize a victim of Dhoni-ism, you need to listen carefully for statements like the following:

1. Give Dhoni Bharat Ratna right now.
2. Ask Anna Hazare to shut up. Dhoni could win the ICC World Cup without saying a word about the billions of corruption allegations in Indian Cricket.
3. India needs cricket more than education and politics. Did you watch Lagaan?
4. India invented cricket. (search elsewhere in the blog for that piece).
5. The Indian GDP growth rate is directly linked to the IPL 4 run rate.
6. Poor people should not pray for rain or government tax concessions. Self belief, combined with some cricket, will deliver results.
7. We should make Dhoni and other such heroes act in movies to improve our Oscar chances.
8. Dhoni will win the next 3 World Cups also and show India is better than 3-time winners Australia. This is crystal clear in his horoscope where the Sun and Jupiter are housed together in the seventh house favourably.
9. Dhoni should be the joint CM of Bihar, Jharkhand, UP and MP.
10. Dhoni should sing the national anthem and that should become our official track.

Life is Beautiful - Soprano Cheryl Barker's Portrait

Just listening to ABC Classic FM featuring this soprano singer Cheryl Barker. Her famous rendering of Puccini's classic operatic pieces in Madame Butterfly inspired the artist Yin to paint her portrait, 'Hearing Meditation' which has become a finalist at the 2011 Archibald Prize.

Going fancy-tech

I went to the Marina Bay Sands at last. It was the team dinner. I did not explore all the sights, shoppes and splurges (casinos et al) but already got a flavour of it.

1. MBS is the happening place for all those who feel young and rich.
2. It is big. You will feel as if you are an ant crawling in a bowl of honey.
3. The food is plenty in a restaurant called Rise. But not much for an Indian palate.
4. After Maria Bay Sands the next happening place is Clark Quay. It is full of young starry-eyed skimpily clad girls and men.
5. You will feel a warm glow for a couple of days after MBS+CQ. Especially if you can blog about it via an iPad gifted by the team at dinner to you, as I was.

Who is Anna Hazare?

Click here to watch this video

India invented Cricket

Prof. Thirunavakkarasu and Pandit Vishwanatha Shastri have submitted a secret paper to the Prime Minister which proves India invented cricket during Mahabharata times.

This sensational discovery could not be revealed earlier as it would have unnecessarily distracted India's World Cup campaign.

Tracing a lead in Shilappadikaram, the scholars researched rare manuscripts in Bhandarkar Institute Pune and discovered that during Mahabharata,  Bhima and Arjuna invented cricket when they got a sabbatical trip to Swargaloka. Everyone knows how Arjuna spurned Urvashi's advances and in turn was cursed to behave like a eunuch and teach dance later on to Uttara. During the same visit to Swarga, a bored Bhima used his gada to play left arm spin bowling from Arjuna on an idle sunny afternoon. Sage Agasthya spotted them and said lo, we have the makings of a grand game here!

Vishnu and Shiva led the two teams.  Bhima, Manmatha, Vashishta, Narada, Indra and Vayu were in Vishnu's team. Shiva had Kumara, Ganesha, Agni, Nandi, Arjuna and Vishwamitra. VIshwamitra opened the pace attack. Arjuna like Gary Sobers could bowl left arm and bat right-handed. Bhima hit many sixes. Vishnu played a captain's knock down the order and ran cheeky singles. You can even now see he needs Lakshmi's leg massage often. Brahma, who was trikala gyani, was the umpire who needed no referral system.

Just when the match was going great Durvasa appeared. He was livid that Ashwini kumaras were not included in the teams. He cursed that the game should be forgotten forever. Narada interceded and won a concession that the game's heavenly origins would come to light when India won a world competition on home soil.

Incredible!? Kreekata in Sanskrit means a game played with girded loins (they had to tie their flowing angavastra around the waist). Vaara was one 7 ball cycle which became 'over'. When a batsman was caught (the only way to get out) he had to untie the waist cloth - vikata.

A British scholar took the idea from the Pune library in 18th century.

The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : India are World Champions!

The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : India are World Champions!

Our Lifetime's Greatest Sports Moment in India

From Lagaan to Lagan

Once  outsiders that flashed the World Cup aloft at Lord's

Called Devils as they were truly unknown to the world as winners;

To the world centre-stage of cricket here, back home, in amchi Mumbai;

A glorious tournament, full of happy crowds and healthy rivalry-

No shadowy fixers, no skirmishing fans, no bad-mouthing leaders, no ignominious losers.

Wearing lightly the heavy mantle of expectation of 1.2102 billion people,

Soaking up a million sagely words of caution, concern and criticism;

Beyond propitiating Sehwag and Sachin to fire up and notch up hundreds,

Gambhir in confidence, Mahendra when the moment demanded-

Worthy victors over a great rival team, India have arrived.