A Balanced Score Card

It's one year and more since I relocated from Singapore, resigning from a job with GE APAC and taking up a part time assignment with GE again in Bengaluru, so I can be with my folks. I also have some other interesting assignments.

So thought I will publish a balanced score card. here goes:




(total out of a possible maximum of 1750)

Why astrology is a joke.

I can prove to you mathematically that astrology is a joke.


There are 12 houses, and let us assume your astrologer predicts an outcome with only 1 in 12 error margin (NO ASTROLOGER STICKS HIS NECK OUT 100%). So let us say this is 85%. The rest of 15% is understandable as things beyond man's understanding.

That means he is predicting an outcome based on your chart with 85% probability of accuracy. that looks pretty good, right?

Sadly, NO. Because:

You surely have heard of 7 degrees of connection...that means EVERYONE who influences your life is only 1, 2, or at most 7 layers of contact away.

That means your life outcome depends not just on you, but on the actions of SEVEN levels.

Even assuming at each level the astrologer predicts with the same confidence of 85%, that means, my friend, that actually the outcome is equal to only (0.85)^7.

Now assume there are at least three people in your immediate circle who can influence an event. Hence the probability further reduces to 1/3 x (0.85)^7.

You know how much that is? 11%.

Hence your astrologer's being able to predict an outcome is only as good as what he does not know, or factors beyond man's understanding.

Hence astrology is BUNKUM!


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Multitasking info graphic

Please Include Attribution to OnlineCollege.org With This Graphic




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Multi-taskers or scatter-brains

Detailed Infographic

High-Res Image

Bhagavan Krishna says in the Gita: those who meditate on me with undivided mind will always be taken care of by me. In other words he says 'don't multitask'.

The story goes that Ramakrishna chided Rani Rasmani when she was once sitting in prayer in the temple. He slapped her and said she should not be thinking of her business affairs when sitting in prayer.

Alas, we are today in the fragmented world of multitasking. The chart today in Economic Times lists the perils of Multitasking.

There is another article on iOS vs. Android, and how Android scores in multitasking!

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How I switched to an Android Phone

I have been using an iPhone since 2007, when I gifted myself on Diwali day a jail-broken one in Sydney Australia, inspired by its being written up as the gadget of the year in Time magazine.

I have used smart phones since 2002. P800 then P910 from Sony Ericsson. I am a bit crazy to spend so much on a phone, but actually it has become a bit of a companion as I google, listen to music and write blogs and snap and edit and upload photos/videos, on the move.

I have lost one P910 and two iPhones in public places to theft. My dear GE colleagues pooled up money to gift me a replacement last year as they knew how dejected I was after losing one in a taxi.

Having paid up tons of money to buy these phones and run up huge 2G/3G/Roaming bills with Airtel, I decided last week to deconstruct my life and switch to a non-3G phone, since I already have a 64 GB 3G iPad 3. So which phone should replace my iPhone 4?

1. It should be a much easier-to-use phone than iPhone.
2. It must be slimmer and longer to hold in the hand during calls.
3. It should have a large, nice display of text and pics and menus.
4. It should have a great camera.
5. It should have some music storage.
6. It should have a good battery charge for a full day's calls.
7. It WILL not have 320 apps like my iPhone had.

I settled for the HTC One V Android 4.0 after some hectic shopping around in Phoenix Mall, Reliance Digital, Sahara Mall Gurgaon and a small specialist phone shop run by Mr Syal. I bought one including a 8 GB SD card and hard back cover for Rs 17,900 paid (by Visa), from Mr Syal.

Here is a photo I just took of an old Krishna picturework hanging on the wall (of my mother's needlework):

Just to let you know how crazy I am, don't ask me what I will do with my iPhone 4. Something good I am sure.

Satyamev Jayate - how we've killed our rivers

At the end of another powerful episode of Satyamev Jayate, they featured this lovely song.

Lit

Watch all the episodes on You Tube... Each episode is an eye-opener and lasts about an hour, ending with a song.

Conceived and presented as a reality show by Aamir Khan, they are taking on issues like Untouchability and Dowry, intractable issues for centuries and impacting a billion plus people.

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The Mysore Palace- Indo-sarasenic Excellence

Walk through Mysore Palace

I quote from a website devoted to Henry Irwin, who designed the Mysore Palace: Indo-saracenic architecture represents a synthesis of Muslim designs and Indian materials developed by British architects in India during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The hybrid combined diverse architectural elements of Hindu and Mughal with Gothic cusped arches, domes, spires, tracery, minarets and stained glass, in a wonderful, almost playful manner.
Robert Fellowes Chisholm(1840 - 1915), Henry Irwin and Gilbert Scott were among the leading practitioners of the time. Chisholm, one of the most gifted English architects working in India and a vehement supporter of Indian craftsmen, stated:

"the men who will actually leave the impress of their hands on the material. These men have an art language of their own, a language which you can recognise but cannot thoroughly understand. For this reason an architect practising in India should unhesitatingly select to practice in the native styles of art - indeed the natural art-expression of the men is the only art to be obtained in the country."

Chisholm was the Principal of the School of Industrial Art at Madras, and won the commision for designing the Presidency College and the University Senate House.

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Suryanamaskar Surprise in New Delhi Airport

A great sculpture at IGI T3! Watch it on You Tube

"You told us to care and share"

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Vatapi Ganapati

This Ganesha image is an ivory painting roughly 3 inches tall, done by a master craftsman in Udaipur with vegetable dyes and brushes some of which are as thin as a camel hair. I purchased this in 2006 after I spoke with the craftsman's student, who told me he wouldn't perhaps reach his master's level ever.

The place Vatapi is the heritage site of Badami today. Wikipedia states that the name Vatapi has origin in the Vatapi legend of Ramayana relating to Sage Agasthya who got rid of the demons Vatapi and Ilvala. Badami (=Vatapi) was the capital of the Early Chalukyas who ruled muchof Karnataka and Andhra between the 6th and 8th centuries. "The Hamsadhwani song Vatapi Ganapatim Bhaje by the composer Mutthuswamy Deekshitar is in praise of the Vatapi Ganapati which is now in Tiruchenkaatankudi near Tanjavur. In 7thcentury, Vatapi Ganapati idol was brought from Badami (Vatapi - Chalukya capital) by Sirutondar (General of Pallavas)."

At Ganesha Talkies in Mysore, where I saw many splendid English movies in '60s, the curtains used to go up with the song Vatapi sung by Ghantasala. Vatapi Ganapatim is a common enough starter song in many concerts, especially instrumental concerts. Sometimes we fail to appreciate the true depth and worth of things just because we see them or hear them often. The more I think about it, the more inspiring is this masterpiece of a composition by Muthuswami Dikshitar. The meaning of this song is available in this very informative website.

Dikshitar has given a beautiful description of the deity and its mythical and mystical dimensions. To me the Ganesha concept is nottrivial... the elephant-headed God represents all that is thoughtful,powerful, benign and multi-dimensional without any mythological excesses. It also somehow deifies our physical existence, and the twinprinciples Bhukti+Mukti. Ganesha is joyous, gracious, auspicious and grand, all at the same time.

The raga Hamsadhwani seems to be the incarnation of Ganesha.. The raga suits the worship of Ganesha so well. Like Ganesha, it has strong and simple contours, and has instant appeal. Its melodic appeal crosses all cultural borders. As I visualize the notes of Hamsadhwani, the fundamental Sa  provides a strong and stable melodic base at the Muladhara. The Ri defines grace, Ga defines majesty, Pa represents vocalised prayer, Ni represents meditation and the higher Sa the union with the Infinite. Just think of the attributes of Ganesha...exactly the same!

It seems appropriate to give you a beautiful rendering of this song by Vidwan Lalgudi Jayaraman ( thanks to my rasikottama friend).

Two Black Goals

I just watched on istream.com in the replay highlights the two wonderful goals that Balotelli scored last night in the Euro semifinal against Germany (Italy 2 Germany 1). Even as he scored twice and celebrated the second goal, throwing a favourite Germany out of the championship, catapulting Italy into the final against Spain, I wondered how the white Europeans would deal with his colour.


 And now I am reading this article in the Guardian.

 I quote parts:

As is well known by now, Mario Balotelli was born in Palermo to Ghanaian parents in 1990, who then gave him up for adoption to an Italian family in the north of Italy when he was just two. Under Italian law, however, he was not able to obtain Italian citizenship until he reached the age of 18, despite having been born in Italy and having always lived there.

...... He is black and extremely good at football, and he is a winner. He has played less than 100 league games for his two major clubs (Inter and Manchester City) and won four championships in that time (and four other trophies). Not a bad record for a 21-year-old.

....... Reactions to Balotelli's recent success with the national team have also been illuminating. After the England game, La Gazzetta dello Sport published a bizarre cartoon depicting Mario as King Kong. 

....... This morning, Tuttosport did it again. Their headline was a play on words. "Li abbiamo fatti neri" (we made them all black). This phrase literally means "We smashed them", "we humiliated them". But the pun, was linked the word "neri" – blacks. 

Jogiya, thy Prayer

Oh Jogiya with thy sonorous chants
Filling the deep precincts of our hearts!
Your tanpuras lend voice to these pillars,
Woken from their chiselled yogic slumbers.
Is prayer voice, or silence?
Is prayer a plea, or surrender?




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From a Camel's Back to the Carnatic - Raga Maand

Today's piece by Charulata Mani in the Hindu, A Raga's Journey- Maand beautifully describes this tantalising movement of a raga. I imagine it must have been inspired in a musician's mind as he was riding a camel in the deserts of Rajasthan. This same musician landed up in the Carnatic and gave the raga Maand to us delighted listeners.

Talking of a camel ride, there cannot be anything more unimaginable. But you can get some inkling when you listen to Maand.This raga's movement, or chalan as they say in HIndustani, is like the locus of a Rajasthani turban as it rides a camel. An elliptical translatory meandering to match the camel's wandering as it seeks a chew of cactus stubble in the sands.

Listen to this piece, to understand it better. Just as a final confirmation that the camel ascended into the royal durbar, this piece is a Sanskrit composition by Mysore Vasudevachar!

I also give you the You Tube Clip of the song Orunal Poduma by Balamuralikrishna:

Thyagaraja - the original movie

An inspiring start to my Sunday! I read in Wikipedia:

Tyagayya (Telugu: త్యాగయ్య) is a 1946 film considered as masterpiece produced and directed by Chittor V. Nagaiah It is a soul stirring film about the truly extraordinary life of Saint Thyagaraja.

The movie achieves the magic by having Nagayya sing for himself the 28 selected songs composed by Tyagaraja. The movie is a solid proof for the importance of screenplay and acting in a movie. The film is also a big credit to the skills of Nagayya - as a director, actor, singer and producer! Nagayya sang the Thyagaraja Kruthis with the devotion and clarity that is way beyond those of the more well-known Carnatic singers. Thyagaraja's music is very famous for the blend of rAgam-thAlam-pallavi and the sheer devotion for Lord Rama.

The captures the societal norms in the late 18th century. While many musicians used to seek the patronage of the kings, Tyagaraja was seeking the patronage of only Lord Rama. It depicts Tyagayya as not only a devotee of Lord Rama but also as a husband, brother, student and teacher.

Upanishad Ganga - the extraordinary story of Satyakaam

If you're not aware, since a few weeks ago, DD is broadcasting a brilliant serial called Upanishad Ganga. It has been directed and produced under the guidance of Chinmaya Mission.

Stories in the serial are episodes from the scriptures and Indian history, highlighting the eternal values that the Hindu way of life represents. The acting, storyline, direction, music, everything has simply been going a few notches in every episode. It is broadcast between 10:00 and 10:30 every Sunday on DD National.

The episode last week was the story of Satyakaama Jaabaali, a keen aspirant who is denied admission into any gurukul because of his low birth and unnamed ancestry. His mother is courageous enough to admit that she has been a daasi in the service of many masters and does not know who has fathered him. But aptly is he named Satyakaama, for his earnestness in the search for truth at last impresses a true master and he is accepted.

Watch the entire episode here:


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Stones that delight in Dance - Nrityagram

Yesterday we made a yatra to Nrityagram. It is in Hesaraghatta, a 90 minute drive from Indiranagar.

Nrityagram is the dance village and school created by the late Protima Gauri 25 years ago and blessed by the all-time greats like Kelucharan Mohapatra.

It has now a very active dance ensemble led by Surupa Sen and Bijoyini Satpati. We never miss their performances, as their performances are the epitome of beauty, grace, musicality and movement that Odissi exemplifies. Nrityagram is simply the best dance ensemble in India.

We made the pilgrimage and we were not denied.  We got to see the top dancers rehearse some major pieces. We walked around the campus and took in the artistic air that bathes the stone and green village. We wish to go back often if possible.

Here are some photos. And to give you a glimpse of their dance, there is an embedded You Tube video also:

Picasaweb Photos

Domestic Art

For better resolution, click here

Lakshmi is our part-time domestic help. She has been working at our home for nearly 20 years.

Her life is somewhat predictable: many children and grandchildren, poverty, displacement from a neighbourhood hutment to temporary addresses in far-flung suburbs as Bangalore climbs the real estate boom graphs. Disease. Death. Vagrant males forcing the women to work grindingly long hours as domestics in many homes, with long commutes, irregular meals, and no certainties whatever.

She brought along one of her grandchildren the other day. The girl was very attentive, doing chores with interest. I heard she is good at her studies.
Lakshmi took a loan of Rs. 2000 yesterday as she had to pay her grandchildren's school fees for the new year. I am going to write it off.

Lakshmi does rangoli, especially on Fridays, like the one here. About a metre in size, it covers the stone slab outside the gate. It is done with the white and coloured rangoli sand she buys from the corner shop. It is easily smudged.
I often stop and see the elemental beauty of the rangoli. Its sight is sheer joy.

The worry that it will be soon smudged is offset by the surety that a new one will take its place. The rangoli reflects the way life renews itself, like the splendid flowers on street-lining trees.

I am simply fascinated. How does Lakshmi balance all life's woes and despair with a sense of beauty and creativity? What is that spark, that hidden hope in life? Can there be anything more welcome at life's proverbial doorstep? Can any self-help book be better inspiration?

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Hare Krishna - a Double Treat

ತಪ್ಪದೇ ಲಾಲ್ಬಾಗ್ಲಿ ಕಾಲ ಹರಿಸುತ್ತಾ
ಪ್ರತಿ ಭಾನುವಾರ ಮೈ ಕರಗಿಸೋ ಪ್ರಯುಕ್ತ
ನಂತರ ಹೊರಟೆನು ದೋಸೆ ಮನೆಯತ್ತ
ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ ಪೂಜೆಗೆ ನಿಂತ ನಾ ಮಹಾಭಕ್ತ.

ನೂರಕ್ಕೂ ಮೀರಿರೋ ದೋಸೆಯಾ ಪಟ್ಟಿ.
ಅದಕೆ ಸೇರಿದ ಹಾಗೆ ಚಾಟ್ಗಳಾ ಬುಟ್ಟಿ.
ತಿಂಡಿಗೆ ತಿನಿಸಿಗೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಏನೂ ಕೊರೆ ಇಲ್ಲ.
ಜೇಬಿಗೆ ಕತ್ತರಿ ಬೀಳುವುದೂ ಇಲ್ಲ.

ವಾರದಲಿ ಪಟ್ಟ ಆ ಪಾಡಿಗೆಲ್ಲ ಫಲವು.
ಖಾಲಿ ದೋಸೆಯ ರುಚಿಯೇ ಮಾನವನ ನಲಿವು.
ಈ ನನ್ನ ರಗಳೆ ಒಂದು ಹರೇ ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಮಂತ್ರ.
ಹರಿ ಪ್ರದಕ್ಷಿಣೆ ಮೊದಲು ಪ್ರಸಾದ ನಂತ್ರ.

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Guaranteed: Brain Softener

What with the Indian Rupee touching 56/- to a US Dollar; lots of scams; inflation and unemployment declaring a war on the Indian government; and other unsolvable problems like finding a consensus Presidential candidate, we could well have predicted it: the top think-tank of Indian leadership has hatched a secret export-oriented plan that will fetch literally billions of dollars. Also, no MP will go on a fast about it, as this scheme will be more successful and less controversial than IPL.
The scheme is simple. The world is fed up of stories of military and police excesses in interrogating and 'mind-bending' deviant or terrorist characters. There ought to be no more shock and horror for the shaky leaders found out in sting operations by avaricious media on Guantanamo etc. And just think.. there are literally milions of such characters whom the governments want to take care of, so that they don't cause any more trouble. at a rough count, some 25 million in Africa, some 100 million in troubled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East, and lots more in India and China. I am not even counting US and Europe and Russia and Latin America yet.
What the world needs is a safe and effective 'mind bender' or 'brain softener', guaranteed to destroy these uncooperative human minds with least effort and bloodshed.
Well, come to India then!
Come to our shining incredible India. We will put you up in a nice 3/4/5/7 star hotel. Well first time it will be you, and if you survive the experience and want your worst enemies to suffer such experience, then pay us good old USD's and we will guarantee the experience:

1. The culprit will be hosted in a nice AC hotel room.


2. He will be tied to the TV remote.


3. He will watch Indian cable TV for 24 hours a day.


4. He can surf any channel, since almost ALL channels have the same bilge. (That's some quality control and Censor Board effectiveness for you),


5. He can order room service and eat Goby Manchurian, Masala Peanuts, and really creamy and heavy north Indian dishes with rice or nan any number of times a day.


6. Nobody will answer any calls for help.


7. No Internet or Mobile as these are mischievous portals to freedom and trouble. (Ask Sibal.)

After 3 days of non-stop watching of Indian TV, the human being will be destroyed to bits. He will dream feverishly of ugly and sweaty characters constantly jumping around in scenes like the shot above, with some miscellaneous humans jumping in sync in the background.
The music will be totally inane, with loud drums and meaningless repetitions of words like Dil, Pyar, Mohabbat, Dhadak Dhadak, Chutak Chutak etc.
He will suffer big bouts of indigestion, but will be too mindless to do anything about it.
He will be constantly fantasising about ticker tape ads for instant hair growth, slimming in six days, Buy One Vacuum Cleaner and Get One Free, Kuber Yantra, Yog Shibir, Learn Kriya Yoga by Post etc.
He will learn to listen to erudite folks screaming at each other in seven PIP windows on Prime Time Debate on issues such as which is a bigger crime, rape or murder. The moderator, with long eyelashes and cascading hair, or sometimes a heavy suit and tie, will pretend to interject and close the debate in 20 minutes or so. Meanwhile a number of ads will urge the viewer to buy 3G Idea or such stating that 3G is a sure way to avoid making babies or a means to enjoy free IPL watching in after-life.
This method of torture will surely soften any brain and yield quick results, with no blood shed and also earn India good Forex.

Take care, be happy. Enjoy 3 days and 4 nights free stay in Highlight Hotel with scenic views and excellent airport transfers. Unlimited Cable TV and Gobi Manchurian.Please pay 100% in advance as your sanity will be suspect after the stay.

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Amazing iPad Photo Apps

Pro HDR is a camera app which can create an 8 MP photo on iPad 3 by taking two photos with different exposures and then generating a fused HR image.
SnapSeed is a photo processing app that gives amazing control over individual areas of a photo in addition to a very user-friendly interface.
See this result....a photo taken on a desultory afternoon in my not so bright room. Truly amazing.....
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A Listless Wait

A listless morning on a May Saturday. Will it rain today? What shopping, eating, roaming is on the cards? What IPL tamasha is in store? What else......?

Listless waiting marks my life. Have you thought how much our technology world has added to our listlessness? Waiting for downloads, googling for news,surfing channels, wheeling through iPod tracks, scanning FB, Twitter, waiting for others to like our posts...a marked listlessness, a sure sign of utter boredom desperate for some excitement...not unlike old neighbours prying into the neighbourhood windows hoping to catch some action.

We read in the epics how Rama waited out 14 years in the forest. No real action except some rakshasa battles and an abduction. And some monkey business. That's all. It seems he did not even get to listen to stories from sages like Yudhisthira did. Not to mention that his brothers and wife gave the latter more colourful episodes to recall later.

In Bhagavadgita, Krishna says that the realized one is indifferent to goings-on around him. There is no more that looking outward for happenings. No Dil Mange More. Of course these days the cult symbols of 'asking for more' like Sriman SRK get into all sorts of trouble. In fact all the news around us instruct us constantly that greed and avarice and lust always lead to trouble. But that seems to be no deterrent as we are also equally beset with bombardments of how we should seek more...male face whitening creams, herbal oils that make hair grow on even old baldies, and 'eat all you can' buffets. Buy One and Get One Free culture.

But the corollary to asking for more is waiting. Listless waiting. Not waiting for the rain clouds to bring news of your long lost beloved. Not waiting like Shabari. Not waiting for your loved ones to come back after decades of wandering away. But waiting for things to happen to fulfill your unstated, undeciphered, vague, amorphous, ambiguous, inexplicable, desire for more.

Sorry. Even God can't fathom what I want. It seems to apply to all our listless waiting.

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My cup of coffee

There is a reason I put this picture here, rather than that of only a frothy stainless steel tumbler. South Indian coffee is a religion, and just as you don't understand much of any religion by merely visiting a temple, you don't understand our passion for coffee by just seeing the tumbler or even sipping our coffee a bit.
To make you understand how ingrained our passion is, let me tell you of a visit to Srirangapatna about 50 years ago. My mother was a traditional lady who did not even drink water taken from anywhere outside our home. But that day, after the amblings around the temple town, in the hot afternoon, she needed her coffee fix. Not knowing anybody in that place, not of course ever going to drink coffee in a restaurant, we bought coffee powder, a vessel(?), milk, sugar, and made coffee on the roadside by burning dry leaves and sticks. Finally my mother got her drink of a darkened suboptimal concoction from a blackened vessel, but that was enough of a fortifying fix to continue the trip.
Coffee is to us what soma rasa might be to gods or wine to nabobs. Or scotch and rum to soldiers and sailors. Or beer to Germans, Britishers and Aussies.
I recollect the heady aroma of coffee in the trade-fair grounds in Saba Saba Fair in 1976. That was my first trip abroad and I was representing Government of India in the Tanzania Fair. Like a homing bird, or Captain Haddock to his bottle, I ran towards where the coffee was brewing. It made my day to drink a strong brew, and my delight was to know how coffee was a passion all over Africa and Arabia. In fact they explained how East African economies sorely depended on coffee exports.
I confess my attendance at International conferences is somewhat motivated by the thought of those shiny copper coffee machine stalls that generous trade booths install, where you can get a fresh brew served by smiling attendants.
Some more evidence. Many years ago, when a Madrassi friend married a Delhi Punjabi girl, his mother packed all the pathos of her disapproval into a pithy question, "Can she make coffee?"
And my sister-in-law, who surely will remember this: a strappling teenager decades ago, she came rushing out of her hostel at Rukmani Devi's Kalakshetra on the first day, a picture of rude shock, shedding copious tears and exclaiming, "They don't serve coffee here!" Sagely advice alone didn't suffice, I had to take her and get her two ice-creams on Mount Road to make her stay back in her chosen dance school.
Coffee is more than anything else. It is only next to mother's milk for us.
I have found the American way of drinking 'Starbucks' watery, black, tepid coffee from large mugs totally incomprehensible. It's somewhat like a ritual that drains all feeling from a sacred experience and leaves behind only a nominal diluted remnant of the hoary tradition.
I find the ways of the Europeans who sip a spoonful of strong black coffee, sometimes laced with alcohol, also difficult to appreciate. Give me any time coffee with milk, and no sugar please! because I think it is sacrilegious to sweeten a drink with its unique taste straight from heaven. Make it from a fresh brew in a coffee filter, pour milk till it froths, and serve it in a tumbler or a cup. And make sure it is hot.
Wherever I have lived, in Hyderabad, Madras, Bombay, Delhi, Erlangen, Sydney, Singapore, Mysore, Bangalore....we first located the sacred spots where we could get good filter coffee powder. That determined our love for that place. It gave us after all meaning in life.

My dalliance with coffee machines, percolators, French presses, all have convinced me that there is only one right way- that of using a coffee filter. Of course even more fanatic purists say that coffee should be strained with a cloth. Well. That is how my father made coffee. And he drank it from a silver tumbler.
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Mausiqui ek Khoj

Dear friends,
Last Friday I saw a beautiful programme called Mausiqui ek Khoj at 4:30 pm on DD Bharati.

How I wish Charulata Mani's excellent "A Raga's Journey" could take shape like this one...

The programme is presented by Ustad Shujaat Khan every week and explains the nuances of a Hindustani raga, with beautiful video examples. Last Friday it was Tilak Kamod, which he described (rightly I think!) as a raga of "innocence". Shujaat is the son of Vilayat Khan, and Ustad Shahid Parvez, one of my favourites, is his cousin I think. The programme is beautiful and reminded me of the short and sweet "Sangeet Sarita" on Vivid Bharati that I used to enjoy in olden "golden" days.
I would now like to share with you a piece from my CD collection of Ustad Shahid Parvez here. It is a Thumri in Tilak Kamod... it is incredible:


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New iPad- how good?

Here is my Picasaweb photo viewed  zoomed up on iPad 1 using Web Albums:

The selfsame photo viewed on the new iPad or iPad 3 (slightly different zoom and placement, sorry)

Better, don't you think, mate?

Product Life Cycle in Carnatic Music

Today's Hindu reports that Ilayaraja congratulated classical music students and said that their pursuit of music would take them closer to God. This is an oft-repeated idea I can easily resonate with. If you're sensitive to music, you can feel its impact deep inside, something nothing else has been able to match in my case.
While music is therefore an inner journey towards the Anaahata or Om or God, we see that classical musicians also have an outward journey in the market place of audiences, sabhas and concerts. I am yet to come across a musician who is indifferent to audience response. It is therefore a very external world phenomenon, much like any other aspect of our life.
Since musicians perform as professionals, they are also 'selling' their music. This is hard to swallow when you're thinking of a Thyagaraja composition saying money is nothing, or dwelling in Rama confers ultimate bliss. But the real world of musical performances have audiences, tickets, promos. If this is not marketing, what else is it?
When you start thinking of a Carnatic musician's marketing or branding, the idea of a product life cycle seems relevant.

I have come across two interesting studies of celebrity/artiste life cycle here:
Indie_music.pdf
celebrity life cycle

Now, let me add my two pennies. I think the attributes that make CM artistes successful vary in the different product life cycle phases. Novelty, euphony, presence, virtuosity, authenticity (=adherence to tradition, repertoire etc.) all have varying roles in making artistes successful, depending on the phase they are in. This also makes it all the more important that they do not launch prematurely and/or burn out. After all today's audiences are notorious for craving new entertainments and we will never again see 30-40 year celebrity careers.

So here is a spider chart on attributes for Carnatic music success in different product life cycle phases- launch, growth and maturity.
So dear artiste, don't launch early, do benchmark your success attributes, and reinvent yourself!

(click the graphic to view in better resolution)

Comments are more than welcome!
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Rasaanubhava - ಬೀದಿ ಹೂವು

ಬೀದಿ ಹೂವು
ಹಳೆ ಊರ ಮುಖವನೆ ಮರೆಸಿ ಭೂಮಿಯಲಿ ಮಳೆ ಹೊಡೆದು
ಮನೆ ಎಂದು ಹೆಸರಿಟ್ಟು ಕನಸ ಲಿಫ್ತಲಿ ನನ್ನ ಹತ್ತಿಸಿದೆ.
ನಾನೊಬ್ಬ ಬೆಪ್ಪಣ್ಣ ಈ ಊರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಬಾವುಲಿಯಂತೆ ಜೋತು ಬಿದ್ದೆ.

ಈ ತೋಲಾಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಏನು ರಸಾನುಭವ?
ಈ ಜಂಜಾಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಏನು ಹೂವಿನಾಸ್ವಾದ?
ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆಯ ಮಾಧುರ್ಯವೆಲ್ಲಾ ಬರೀ ಒಂದು ಸ್ಕ್ರೀನ್ ಸೇವರ ಚಿತ್ರ.
ಚಂಪಕದ ಕಂಪು ಬರೀ ಒಂದು ಅಗರಬತ್ತಿಯ ಧೂಪವಷ್ಟೇ.

ಹೀಗಿರುವಾಗ.

ಅಚ್ಚರಿ! ಅಚ್ಚರಿ!
ಇಂಥಾ ಬರಡು ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲೂ
ವಿಧಾತನ ಕೈವಾಡ.
ರಸ್ತೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ರಸಾನುಭವ.
ಹೂವಿನ ಹಸಿ ಹಸಿ ನಗೆ.
ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಮೊಬೈಲ್ ಫೋಟೋ.
ಅದನ್ನೇ ವರ್ಣಿಸಿ ಬರೆದ ಕವಿತೆ.

ಎಂಥಾ ರಸ ಮಿಂಚಿನ ಅನುಭವ.
ಎಂಥಾ ಚಿಂತನ.
ಎಂಥಾ ಸಿಂಚನ.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

IPad - some way to make a pitch!

See the magic that iPads can do in clever hands:

Why did Rama break Shiva's Bow?

The year is 2014. The scion of the first family has been anointed as the new PM. But all is not well. BJP is clamouring, with renewed support from the people, that Rama's temple should be built and Ramrajya should be ushered in. The opposition is taking pot shots at the young PM saying he does not represent the true spirit of India and has no knowledge of Indian scriptures.

The young PM decides to bone up quickly on Indian epics and starts reading Amar Chitra Katha Ramayana. (highly recommended).

When he comes to the chapter of Swayamvara, a quaint story where Rama weds Sita after breaking Shiva's bow, he is intrigued. How come Rama won the maiden's hand when he just broke a bow rather than show his mastery of it by stringing it and shooting an arrow? After all, Arjuna (another Amar Chitra Katha) actually won Draupadi's hand by shooting the fish yantra by merely seeing its reflection. And then there was one more episode where Buddha (Siddhartha then) won his bride by shooting an arrow through seven saal trees. So Rama looks a bit clumsy or what?

He quickly summons his core cabinet and asks them to explain the significance of the story. He gets many sagely answers:

• Defence Minister : Since Rama already had a powerful bow and sacred arrows bestowed by Vishwamitra, he just didn't want extra baggage. And like the US Forces rountinely destroy armament so it doesn't fall into enemy hands, Rama broke the bow.
• Culture Minister : Well, that is only partly true. The actual reason is that Ravana, being a Shiva bhakta, could always do some penance standing on one finger or such and then Shiva would have been forced to grant him the bow, which would make Ravana truly invincible. So better to break it before Ravana gets some ideas.
• Telecom Minister : We Dravidians think Rama did something hasty. The bow could have been used for advanced telecom technologies, given that it had the biggest vibration spectrum in all creation. But Rama, like Subramanya Swamy, basically destroyed a means to Indian telecom modernisation.
• Science and Technology Minister : the story is actually proof that Vedic people had a mastery of all advanced software techniques. The bow represented an encryption technique, and Rama basically broke the code, not the actual bow. That is how he became so powerful.
• Space Minister : We have to remember that all scientific experiments have some initial setbacks, like the early missiles we launched. Rama broke Shiva's bow, but the second time, when he was tested with Vishnu's bow by Parashurama, he was able to string it. That means we should get an adequate budget for the space programme.
• Russian Expert : It is a design fault in the bow. The materials testing employed was not very advanced. That is why we have significantly improved the technology in Kudankulam and our reactor is unbreakable.
• The President Dr Kalam has the final say. He says, "Rama should have read the operator manual. That shows education is important for the future generations of India."

Surf Excel - your path to progress

This graphic appeared in the Hindu today, with much 'tchey tchey' about how India's topsy turvy priorities focus on giving people 2G/3G smart phones rather than toilets and bum washers. This also reminds me of Shri Jayaram Ramesh raising his voice recently about the need for prioritizing rural hygiene and ecology. All is well said, sir. But Indians have once again proved in the recent elections that they know what to do and what to throw out. Believe me, Indians whether uneducated or unwashed, always make the right choices. Let me give you some examples:

1. In the whole of our Puranas and epics, there is never any mention of hygiene or cleaning. If ever someone went at dawn to the river or the seashore, it was to offer prayers and seek powerful boons.


2. Remember what haalaat befell gopikas going to bathe in the river or bringing water in pots on their heads?


3. Remember Adi Shankara going to bathe in the river? A crocodile caught him.


4. Remember Shakuntala idly running her hand in the river? She lost her wedding ring, the only thing that could remind her kingly spouse that indeed he had got her pregnant.


5. Remember that funny story that made the rounds long back about a village bumpkin left behind by his train as he went to 'commit nuisance' - the entire story is funny because of his lack of mastery of English, not that he went to the open spaces to relieve himself.


6. Now look at Surf Excel, the soap. It is a strong detergent, with chemicals that will pollute rivers and destroy the fertility of our mother earth. On the other hand, if a young man is surfing on his mobile and watching interesting and informative stuff, not only does he become better informed, but will surely make a good impression on anyone around, a young maiden or even a neta. Apart from surfing, if he can also do some excel spreadsheets, it is only a short hop skip and jump to the silicon valley of India. Therefore India needs more of the second Surf+Excel rather than your polluting Surf+Excel. By the way I am equally against Santoor and Shikakai also, because a wise nation does not waste money on cosmetics. Don't believe the thousands of TV ads that show celebrity after celebrity using shampoo, whitening cream or toothpaste.

Nobody really cares, you see. You can start grooming yourself after you acquire the basic weapons of competition- a cell phone, an accent, and an attitude. How well you are washed and clothed underneath is really unimportant, something that you need to bother about after you have climbed the social ladder.
Did you notice a 18% of Indians, rural+urban, don't possess any of the assets listed? I was told by a reliable source that many of these unfortunate brethren are political netas. No wonder that the recent exposé of some interesting browsing in Karnataka assembly by netas showed how some of them had to look over others' shoulders to watch the video. Obviously they belong to the 18% hapless Indians who don't own even cell phones. Naturally we are a long way off from providing latrines and clean drinking water to these people!

Coconut Climbers- upwardly mobile Indian women!

The Hindu Feb.26, 2012:

Women of Kerala are scaling new heights. Meet Reena, who has been trained to pluck coconuts.

Those crossing the Pallikkara railway gate in Kasaragod cannot but notice this entrepreneur, surrounded by heaps of tender nuts, most of which she herself plucks. She sells about 200 nuts daily and earns around Rs. 1,000.
“After attending the coconut-climbing programme, I'm able to pluck nuts myself and save on the harvesting cost of Rs.3 apiece,” the mother of two, who has studied up to Class X, says. She plans to form a women's self-help group to make coconut-based, value-added products such as tender coconut lassi.
Secure & independent
“Apart from making me financially secure and independent, this helps me gain self-confidence and self-esteem,” she says. Her average work-day lasts 12 hours. Whenever she gets the opportunity, she works as a bus driver as well.
Indeed, with traditional coconut-pluckers turning a vanishing tribe in the State, getting the nut down from atop had in recent years turned out to be a headache. There have been efforts by individual inventors, aided by government agencies, to design and commercialise mechanical climbers that would enable virtually anyone to go up the trunk. And some models have indeed proved themselves up to the task.
The tougher part was to get people interested in acquiring the skill. The Coconut Development Board, working through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) of the Kerala Agricultural University and Krishi Bhavans, recently came up with a scheme to train groups of people, including women, to use the devices to climb and pluck the nuts.
Women are better
And, belying expectations, women have proved to be quite good at it. In recent months, a large number of women, primarily in the northern parts of the State, have been trained in going up the tree using the mechanised climbing devices.
Women who complete the programme have also been trained and encouraged to take up coconut-related small businesses that they can run on their own. Several of them have started tender coconut parlours – confident and competent enough to harvest the nuts themselves and sell them from roadside units, often with some value-addition.
The KVK in Kasaragod, attached to the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), has organised nine training programmes in which 180 rural youth have participated. The fifth batch of the programme gained media attention as it was an all-woman batch.

Emmae Swami

I was sitting next to a large, bushy mustached, Kannadiga on my flight to Detroit. For me it was a routine boring trip, but this man was obviously having the time of his life and it seemed this was his first flight abroad. We struck up a conversation as soon as the lunch trays had been cleared, and when I asked him what he was going to America for, he produced a flashy business card. The card had a large picture as above, and the words, Emmae Swami. On the back was a Mysore address and a long title, which said:

Abhinava Mahisha Chakravarthy, Shastraartha Visharada, Jyothishvarenya

Emmae Swami, M.A.,

23, Palace Agrahara, Mysore 570013, India

I was curious. My sister-in-law had told me how there was a steady stream of spiritualists and temple-mongers to India's culture-hungry American diaspora-agglomerations, in Toronto, Chicago, Pittsburgh, LA and so on. But this guy was even more extraordinary than I had imagined. I asked him how long he had been active as a swami.

He told me his story: His parents had named him Swami, and as a boy, he had little interest in books or degrees. He chose to join Hanuman Akhada and became a successful wrestler, and earned some money carrying drinking water uphill to Chamundi temple. After he grew that smart mustache and hung around Chamundi temple, looking for tourists, he was often complimented for his resemblance to the hero whose statue welcomes visitors to the hill temple. Soon, he was advised by the temple priest that if only he could get to talk smartly about mythological stories and stuff, he could start earning a fortune as a tour guide. So he did a correspondence course in MA Indology, and promptly printed a card Swami, MA.

But fate had bigger plans. One charming white lady tourist asked him to narrate the story of Mahishasura, and when he concluded the story of how Durga Ma had vanquished the demon, the lady had remarked, "is it true, that all these demons were in fact great saints, born to take part in a mythical drama that showed the victory of good over evil, and they would then return to heaven?"

Eureka! Well, why not become Emmae Swami? And so was born the new Swami. That lady had sponsored his trip to US of A and he was going to start a Emmae movement there.

(By the way Emmae in Kannada means a buffalo).

I asked Emmae Swami what was his spiritual teaching? His words had profound insight:

You see, Mahisha (means the same as Emmae) was no ordinary hero. Goddess Durga, with infused energies of Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva, was needed to deal with him. Even the buffalo who carries Yama, the God of Death, is a saint. He is constantly in the presence of Death, and such intimacy confers deep spiritual insight. Of all the animals in creation, the only animal who has conquered all the six enemies- Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Matsarya is Mahisha. He can withstand any attack, rain and storm, or fire and flood. He can face any raging bull or even an escaped Mysore Zoo tiger or elephant. He will not move off the road even when KSRTC buses honk like crazy. He will not mind raiding any garden and eating up all the tender leaves and flowers. Such equanimity is possible only for a realized master.

The moral is very simple. Live like a buffalo, be impervious to worldly worries, and you shall reach heaven.

I was truly moved. I asked Swami what was the day of consecration of the Emmae temple in Detroit. He said it was on the next New Moon, and the temple had the biggest statue of Mahisha in the world.. a 100 ft. fibre glass marvel.

Glory to Emmae Swami!!

Flipkart vs Seventymm: Dev Anand, ''Kala Pani''

Eulogies poured in after Dev Anand's recent demise at 88. I had to change my opinion of him: from that as an actor with laughable mannerisms who never liked to age or die, to that of someone who had some rare intelligence for Bollywood actors and a combination of business acumen and

talent for acting, directing, and knowing what makes a movie click.

In '60s, Dev Anand stormed Mysore when he came to sign up for movie rights to R K Narayan's 'The Guide' . I heard stories how his fast talk had made the writer sign up in a hurry and get a raw deal. I also heard how from Hotel Metropole in Mysore Dev Anand cast a roving eye for beauties from Maharani's College across the road. 'The Guide' itself was a huge success albeit with an ambiguous end.

I therefore read up more about Dev Anand and how after being cast opposite superstar heroines he finally attained his own star status with his role in 'Kala Pani' in 1958. I decided to get the movie DVD and watch it.

My attempt to get the DVD from Seventymm.com (where I regrettably took a 90 day membership for rentals) was a failure. This company has proved to be one of the worst in customer service. Not only do they have almost no good movies for rental immediately, they also do not update you when you make wish-lists. They further claim they came to deliver the DVD and you were not at home (they never ring up in advance) and so you lose your turn. They send wrongly labelled DVDs and poor quality DVDs. They don't pick up returns. They don't answer calls to Support well. All in all something totally avoidable.

In contrast, my experience with online shopping with Flipkart.com has been wonderful. I placed an online order with Flipkart.com for payment on delivery for this DVD. It came within 3 days. and my total cash payment was Rs. 92/- including RS. 30/- delivery charges!

Let me give you a great movie song clip on You Tube:

teaboy

The vicissitudes of corporate life warrant some vital measures to stay alive and awake through a torturous day, wondering how one could kill time a little more efficiently.

That is where the cup of coffee or tea, somewhat mandatory in an Indian office to be served piping hot at your desk at least twice a day, comes in. When the American CEO visited us in 1993, he was amused how religiously coffee, tea and cookies were served at every meeting and how it seemed somewhat more substantial a ritual than the actual deliberations.


Now do you remember your teaboy? I ask with no hyphens or capitals so I avoid giving any false sense of importance to this minion. He is but a minor underling in a pecking hierarchy where your own position is not really that high unless you are able to see the rumbling clouds at the top of the corporate echelon and are already talking to some head-hunters.

If you are, like I have been most of my life, a hard-working manager attacking competition and pushing useless products to skeptical customers, you may not have had much time to notice too many things in the office. You would also not remember when the teaboy changed but would surely notice that the taste of coffee or tea changed when they introduced a new coffee machine or tea brand.

So imagine when someone starts talking about the teaboy in their office, his life as a human being, and his own imponderable issues of dealing with money or health problems. Or when someone states how their teaboy's son got admission into engineering, or just starred in a vernacular movie. Then you start wondering, what is this life, so mechanical, so indifferent to our social space, and how our lives are ruled by Power Point pitches full of exaggerations, extrapolations, and obfuscations, in a pyramid of imbecility that passes off as corporate excellence. And the teaboy? He also dreams that one day, his bright-eyed son or daughter will also be a big executive, in a big office, big enough to ignore the teaboy there.

Uh oh. Is this my cup of tea?

"Time to dream" 2012 New Year Fireworks

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.