Cherry Blossoms on 12th Main

An incredible balancing act.

Beauty, harmony, balance ... on so many levels. A truly amazing balancing act. Dance artist Miyoko Shida was born in Fukuyama-shi, Japan. She performed as a dancer and choreographer at the Rigolo Nouveau Cirque in Switzerland and currently lives in Paris, France.
Click on the link to watch her balance several palm leaf stems with incredible ease and confidence. What does it take to do THAT!

http://bit.ly/1240WrI

The fascination of trains

Today's Economic Times:

India: works in progress

Sir Alex Ferguson

There are many things I don't understand. For example leadership this good,  this long,  in the world's best sport,  football. Just saw this in Economic Times today.

Dig your well before you're thirsty

Bangalore has about 10 million people supported by an extremely fragile water resource system. Everyday illiterate and corporate hires are trooping in for jobs and shelter. Double decker trains are pouring in people from neighbouring states lured by their well-heeled cousins flaunting their fortunes, stories of the local airconditioned weather and the supposed upbeat job market. Northeastern, UP, Bihar and Odisha states are supplying huge numbers of security guards,  roadside stall cooks and construction labour.

What about drinking water for all these people? An old adage is 'dig your well before you're thirsty' .  Bangalore's famous network of lakes and parks won admiration for Sir MV and he later built Secunderabad, Jaipur and Nagpur cities' infrastructure. Even today, all those old Bangalore lakes can be seen in old Raj photographs. 

But now, a poor sewage and water supply system run by corrupt officials is the only infrastructure for India's shining IT capital. Sometimes newspapers report that Cauvery has only 15 days drinking water reserve for our mega-city. Everyone is waiting for the rains! Depressing,  is it not?

Yesterday I went and saw something different. Just amazing. 10 km beyond Bannerghatta,  Ramakrishna Mission, Shivanahalli is creating a new chapter in ecology. Swami Vishnumayananda started planting tree saplings there,  brought from Western Ghats, back in 1980's against much scepticism and opposition. Now there are interested volunteers coming and taking it further in this amazing afforestation scheme. Google it and read for yourself. 

Their website: http://www.rkmission-shivanahalli.org/

I attach some photos.

The swami built lakes to make the forest sustainable.  His forest attracts all kinds of wild life as well as interested volunteers.
This could be a new chapter in our thirsty world.

The Economist: India's labour force

I just read the latest Economist online:

During the boom of the 1990s and 2000s it became fashionable to talk of India's demographic dividend – evoking the experiences of East Asia. There, working-age populations rose at the same time as the ratio of dependents to workers fell. An associated rise in the rate of saving allowed more investment, helping the vast expansion of manufacturing that employed those workers and lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. India's fertility rate dropped substantially in the 1980s and 1990s, and its working age population is expected to expand by 125m over the next decade. But now India's GDP growth rate has fallen to half of its peak rate. The country's record on job creation has been poor, households are redirecting their savings out of the financial system into physical assets, and manufacturers remain wary of labour rules and infrastructure bottlenecks.

'You're going bald.'

We worship 330 million gods and goddesses with enough hair to cover the 3 worlds in a thick blanket.

Indians are the butt of jokes about this craze for whitening creams and hair dyes. But we call our gods as Keshava, Jatadhara, Neelaveni and Charukeshi. All words to show good hair.

When you hear the dreaded words that you're going bald, laugh. This article will help you.

Hair Is Wasted On The Hairful -

Bangalore's beautiful buses.

There was a time when travelling even a few miles by bus from Basavanagudi to Maharani's College near Majestic used to be an ordeal. After standing in a long line, my mother had to climb up into a crowded aisle and hang on to a strap from the roof as the overloaded, dirty, bus ploughed through traffic for the best of an hour. An ordeal she went through for many years. 

In most Indian cities people bought scooters and mini cars because the alternative of public buses was a mirthless waste of time. There would also be pickpockets and purse snatchers to boot. 

The bus driver would see a milling crowd hanging around restively at a stop and manage to draw them forward in a race of the fittest as he stopped several yards beyond the stop. Old people and women or those with any luggage had no chance of making it.

There is a sea change now. I see snazzy Volvo's cruising with people seated comfortably in air conditioned comfort. I see them reading,  chatting on mobiles, or texting, or listening to music. Many dose off as these luxurious liners move for long periods from one end of town to other. Tickets are not cheap but still less than auto fare. Anyway IT salaries more than take care of it. And for women and old people it is good to travel now. It is a better choice than driving in your large car and getting stuck in jams as scooterists nudge around and knock off rear view mirrors. 

Here is a shot of what I saw this morning. Such a nice bus indeed.

Broken Horses

Went to vote at the nearby primary school. After an eventful BJP rule in Karnataka we are electing a new state assembly. They had a Russian roulette of chief ministers and deeply excavated scams of huge amounts stretching to many digits and states.

I want a strong guy to rule India. I prefer an articulate and clean leader who listens to growth ideas and implements them well. Yes I mean someone like Modi.

Someone told me the BJP states have done rather well in implementing UPA funded central growth programmes even better than Congress governments in states. 

I want no communal politics.

I am sick of Karnataka being called endemically corrupt. 

I took this photo. It is a pile of rocking horses meant for primary school kids to play with in the school. They say we must choose horses for courses. These rocking horses all lie broken. Which one will resurrect and run to win?

Music and biscuits.

Folks,
OK, let me say it. Music is like biscuits.

As you let that sink in slowly, let me give you some context.

It is that unearthly hour of a dark silent warm cozy night. I have been listening to and watching RKM on ustream.tv. I have got IPL last over finishes and its zillion ads under my skin. And don't mind confessing that the music is swirling in my being and giving me a good feeling. How to describe it? Yes, how to name it, as Ilayaraja once asked?

I just got it! RKM's music is like a biscuit...

For NRIs, wannabie NRIs and ABCDs amongst us, a biscuit is that freshly baked little or big honourable calorie snack that you call a cookie. What makes the large modern mall attractive is its wafting aromas of freshly baked biscuits as I would call them or cookies as you might. Cookies or biscuits as I prefer do not go overboard like doughnuts or pretzels. They show the middle path in the modern world of instant gratification where man struggles for escape from his prison of ice creams, burgers, chips, and coffee. As Asok said in the Dilbert strip yesterday, we Indians love our bread and starchy food. So biscuits is God's answer to our prayers. From humble me to the big B, we love biscuits. Too much for our own good.

And RKM's music is like THIS biscuit: fresh, fragrant, not too sweet, not too creamy, yet so crunchily delectable and something I can savour every bite. Just for reference, imagine the famous Pune's Kayani's Shrewsbury, fresh from the oven at 10:45 AM, and make it even crunchier, with a touch of coconut, cummin, somehow hinting at caramel- but without oodles of butter and sugar- no orange or chocolate smears, no hidden nuggets, no layers upon layers you need to deconstruct, no cloying sweetness packed into Parle G like gujjus in Santa Cruz. The ideal biscuit is like a short comfortable memorable scenic train journey from Palghat to Shoranur,

So, can you relate to my thoughts? What kind of a biscuit is your favourite musician?

Sachi R

RKM is short for Ramakrishnan Murthy, a brilliant 23 year-old Carnatic musician.

Epilogue:

High time we said something about biscuits in Sanskrit:

BISCUIT nAmaka bhakshaNam
rasamayam lokE sadA-swAdanam
yAtrE gAyaka-ruchikaram bahutaram
atyaMta AmOditam

MARIE bodhita madhukaram
priyakaram svalpam sadA-sEvanam
rasyam snigdhataram gurubalam
rasika-janA-lambitam.

(Note: It seems Carnatic musicians have often relied on Marie biscuits during long train journeys to keep body and soul together.)

A 2013 IPL Prayer

Dear God,

Don't tempt me with so many ice creams and chocolates and
give me real mangoes instead of Maaza, Fruiti and Rasna.

Take away those poorly made-up dumbo bimbo cheer-leaders.
They are wasted and can be busy elsewhere.

Make commentators explain those Zoo-zoo ads to people around as I can't be bothered.

Send back Rameez Raza and such inane commentators to their homeland.

It almost seems except two or three teams everyone else knows how to win a game and so don't you think we have way too many matches? Why can't we play playoffs just now?

Phone stuff

"I would have felt sorry for the Lord."

I quote from this link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324743704578444913060125542.html

U.S. NEWS Wall Street Journal
Updated April 25, 2013, 7:28 p.m. ET
Theory of Einstein's Proved Right—Again
By GAUTAM NAIK

Scientists have subjected Albert Einstein's famous theory of gravity to its toughest real-world test so far—and it has prevailed.

The theory, which was published nearly a century ago, had already passed every test it was subjected to. But scientists have been trying to pin down precisely at what point Einstein's theory breaks down, and where an alternative explanation would have to be devised.

Einstein's framework for his theory of gravity, for example, is incompatible with quantum theory, which explains how nature works at an atomic and subatomic level.

Consider that for a black hole, Einstein's theory "predicts infinitely strong gravitational fields and density. That's nonsensical," said Paulo Freire, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy in Germany and co-author of the study, which appears in the journal Science.

And so scientists are testing the general theory not because they think it is wrong but because they are certain it can't be the final explanation—just as Isaac Newton's notion of gravitational force was superseded by Einstein's.

Einstein's general theory of relativity states that objects with mass cause a curvature in space-time, which we perceive as gravity. Space-time, according to Einstein's theories of relativity, is a four-dimensional fabric woven together by space and time.

For example, a bowling ball causes a dent in a mattress, and that dent changes the otherwise straight motion of a nearby marble on the same mattress. Similarly, the mass of the sun distorts the space-time around it. A body with less mass, like the earth, travels along one path in that distorted space, which we call its orbit.

Dr. Freire and his colleagues put Einstein to the test in a cosmic laboratory 7,000 light years from earth, where two exotic stars are circling each other. One, known as a white dwarf, is the cooling remnant of a much lighter star. Its companion is a pulsar, which spins 25 times every second. Though the pulsar is just 12 miles across, it weighs twice as much as the sun.

"When you have such a big mass in such a small space you have extremely high gravity," said Charles Wang, a theoretical physicist at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, who wasn't involved in the study.

The gravity on the pulsar's surface is 300 billion times as great as the gravity on Earth. The conditions there approach the relentless, overwhelming power of a black hole, which swallows even light.

"We're testing Einstein's theory in a region where it has never been tested before," said Dr. Freire.

The pulsar and white dwarf pair emit gravitational waves and the binary star system gradually loses energy. As a result, the stars will move closer to each other and orbit faster. Einstein's theory suggests the stars' orbital periods—the time they take to go around each other—ought to shrink by about eight-millionths of a second per year.

Dr. Freire's and his colleagues used several telescopes to take precise measurements of the two-star system. Their results perfectly matched the Einstein-based prediction.

Though Einstein's framework remains intact so far, "the study is significant for the way observations by astronomers are helping to identify new, extreme cases" to test his general theory of gravity, said Dr. Wang.

Einstein's theory was first—and dramatically—confirmed during a solar eclipse within four years of its publication, making him an instant celebrity. When asked how he would have felt if he had been proven wrong, Einstein replied: "I would have felt sorry for the Lord. The theory is correct."

Photo: http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-XF813_0425ei_G_20130425153714.jpg

Inventive India

Whenever I heard people talk about how India gave everything to the world- yes, everything including salt, pepper, zero, OM, yoga, pranayama, planetary motion theory, rocketry, boson, yes, everything- I laughed. I said to myself, what kind of people are we who must constantly need to stress that we are better than everyone else and we invented everything the world has seen. Well. Let me tell you, I just discovered today - somewhere near Trinity Circle during a bumpy auto ride - that I was wrong and India was INDEED THE MOST INVENTIVE NATION ON EARTH.

When India came back from Montreal Olympics with zero medals, someone had joked: INDIA GAVE THE WORLD ZERO AND THE WORLD GAVE IT BACK.

Jaggi the Sadhguru often jokes that we are free with zeroes when we tell mythology stories because we after all invented zero -Dasharatha ruled for 60000 years - and he gives a big cinematic chuckle.

But let me give you JUST four examples to prove the point that Indians have been in fact the MOST inventive. If you have questions after this, come back and I will give you more examples.

WHY INDIA INVENTED ZERO
To start with, whatever number of things you have, say 'n', this number is bound to change over time. Sooner or later, you will encounter a number called ZERO. Zero means nothing. Like zero rate of growth etc. Like zero down payment, zero interest rate etc. So it is better to be acquainted with zero. We invented it therefore. By the way we also invented INFINITY - 'ananta'.

WHY INDIA INVENTED YOGA
Try squeezing into a railway berth. Or a peak hour train in Bombay. Or a school kids-ferrying auto. Or one of our cheap-fare plane seats. Or some public utility places. You will understand the need for developing a skill to contort your body. Our ancient seers foresaw that we would far exceed a billion population quickly and we would then need to have a way to squeeze ourselves into the available space of the land. So they invented YOGA. When you see a yogi doing an impossible twisted pose, you will understand that he or she will be able to negotiate any kind of space in India.

WHY INDIA INVENTED OM
We Indians often brag, in the International Arrivals hall to our overseas guests, that India has hundreds of languages and dozens of scripts. They begin to wonder whether we are a nation of mad people, speaking so many languages and hence barely understanding one another. Take the simple word Shiva. They say Shiv in the North, Shibo in East, Shiva in the west, Siva in the South. We can never get to agree on any name or word nationwide. So they invented a mystic syllable which would be hard to corrupt with spellings and accents : OM. They said whatever word you start with, you end up with Om. And also, since we Indians are so fond of eating sweets, they made all sweets round so that we can say Om and pop in a nice gulab jamun, rossa gulla, laddu or gol gappa in the mouth. What a great idea sir-ji!

WHY WE INVENTED PRANAYAMA
Try taking a walk on any street for more than five minutes. You will have to close your nostrils to some indescribable smell. I will not say it is stench. In fact I once read that we create these bad smells in street corners to ward off evil spirits. Surely these smells will ward off any kind of life or after-life. So how do you deal with this?
We invented special methods of holding your breath, called PRANAYAMA. The result? We can manage any kind of air quality or smell. In any kind of location from fish markets to Bangalore streets. I heard that when Bhopal had the gas tragedy, people did pranayama and survived with no bad effects! What a brilliant solution to a global problem!!!!!

Come on. You have to agree we are the most inventive nation on earth.

A gated lizard

When I went to my sister's Jhargram ashram, I found lots of big lizards on their walls.  At almost every gathering, they would add insightful 'tctch tctch' sounds of comments.  I asked why they wouldn't do something to reduce their burgeoning  lizard population.  I was then told that to ward off 'tick tickie's as they are called by Bengalis, the best thing would be to put peacock  feathers on the wall! Perhaps the lovely peacocks are fed a steady diet, by doting mother hens, of lizards to improve their voice culture!

I found some humongous lizards roaming freely on Sri Lanka's roads. They looked like dinosaurs broken free from a Spielberg set. I asked my local friends if they didn't harm people. They told me not normally, except on occasion they would go and eat up a baby in the cradle!

Lizards come where there's cockroaches and such. So they ought to be common in Indiranagar with its greenery, bad sewage, and farmland soil.  But ever since we painted our house a couple of years ago, there is a big drop in cockroaches  at home.  Once we netted our windows,  even mosquitoes are rare visitors. But my folks announced the other day that they had spotted a giant lizard at home.  I did see him too, every morning basking in the early morning northeasterly light and breeze in the window.  Perhaps he was missing the wide open spaces?

I decided to open the window and let him go.  And when I did,  I found that the doesn't want to go out! He loves our gated community - plenty of nibbles, IPL matches and Carnatic music.Apart from fascinating gossip on occasion. But unlike Bengali lizards, he doesn't join the adda conversations.

Well, no traffic hassles or carbon pollution for our gated lizard. So here I am, writing this from my couch and let me share his XpZ portrait too. Like any good couch potato or gated lizard, he poses well for photos.

Dolls of Distinction

No surprise here: Barbie Dolls outfitted for more fancy careers cost a lot more!

Read the Economist: http://econ.st/152qXao

Sorry, no hot chillies.

The world is, let us face it, not doing so well. Ok, Modi is making some great speeches. Gayle is hitting some great sixes. Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir are having a decent spat. But is that enough?

Don't you see SRK is tired of all his flop shows? Don't you know Apple has lost billions in market cap? Don't you see that newspapers are full of stories of infanticide, patricide, scam after scam and Wikileaks? Even that an Indian lady earns a top legal post in America is not unadulterated good news, as Obama is faulted for a sexist gaffe.

History knows that in such uncertain or depressing times, man resorts to food and drink as escape. Binge eating and drinking is known to be a remedy. Every big festival in India at least means a feast. Elsewhere at least it is an occasion for drinking.
 
Yesterday, we celebrated Ugadi.  It is the beginning of the Hindu new year. This year has the name Vijaya which means victory or success. So everyone is happy.

Lots of people yesterday ate a lot of obbattus.  If you don't know what obbattu means, it is a fine Kannada sweet delicacy - a pancake made of lentil, flour and sugar or Jaggery. 
Not only are you supposed to stuff yourself with lots of obbattus (add ghee, fine sugar and milk to taste!), but you are supposed to brag about how good and how many obbattus you ate.

Bad news now. No obbattus for me yesterday. Worse news. The worst ever. The chillies, which I love so much,  have lost their 'hotness'. They are a bit like Manmohan speeches.
If chillies lose their flavour, it means God has become clueless as to how to fix the world. That we will have a bumper mango crop this season looks to me to be an empty promise.

India and USA - some numbers

From World Wiki iPhone app:
India vs. USA has 11 times higher population density. India has more water as % of land mass. But since we have relatively 50% more water densjtybbut 1100% more people density, sorry, we remain relatively thirsty.

Lost Kingdom

When I was living in Sydney, Australia, I was tickled to find that every suburb and town had streets named George Street,  Oxford Street and on.  It was as if the English immigrants had all missed their old home so much that they tried to create the me-too towns and streets that gave them restored pride and comfort.
America is full of places like New York and New Hampshire and New England. All harking back to a lost kingdom in their minds perhaps?

I find something similar in India too. Many pilgrimage centres in south India are called Dakshina Kashi, Dakshina Badari, Dakshina Dwaraka and so on. Is it that these places reminded pilgrims from the north who came and settled down here in the south, of their old homes? Is it that some religious leaders were telling local people that one needn't anymore travel up north to seek spiritual merit?  Or is it that saints found similar vibrations in these places?

I for one always go for the original. Give me a place and a temple which has its own history,  merit, and attractiveness. Me-too doesn't interest me.

Tiarella? at Bilekahalli

Sony Xperia Z

When Bangalore gets too hot

Here are ten things I do in the hottest March Bangalore has seen in 15 years:
1. Sit next to a cool,silent, table fan like Havell or Croma ( you can buy one for < Rs 2000).
2. Pour over myself one third bucket of water saved overnight every 6 hours. ( you can do it 3 times a day from one 25 lit bucket).
3. Stay on the lowest floor possible (no hot ceilings).
4. Drink LOTS of water, again saved overnight, or if you can handle it, from the fridge.
5. Eat fruits and vegetable salads.
6. Drink butter milk instead of coffee or tea.
7. Drink tender coconut water ( you get great ones at your doorstep at around Rs 15 each)
8. Go eat MTR fruit salad with ice cream.
9. Take a siesta in my lazy boy.
10. Think of Chennai, Hyderabad and Calcutta - they are hotter!

Beyond Satyameva Jayate

Kumar Gandharva - how to tell a story.

Dear rasikas,
Thanks to my good friend Varsha, I am revisiting some great moments with Kumar Gandharva over the years. I want you to enjoy these two WONDERFUL narratives about a man who discovered God through music:
1. Shabnam Virmani's classic : http://bit.ly/kumargkoisuntahai
2. Films Division Documentary on Kumar Gandharva: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLw5sZ273vM

A few things for those few who may not know Kumar Gandharva:
-b. 1924 near Dharwad, began singing famous Bal Gandharva and other masters' songs at the age of 8, well enough to merit the title Kumar Gandharva.
- was a star already when he enrolled in Deodhar music academy in Bombay for methodical training.
- married his own student Bhanumati in mid 1940s.
- was stricken with TB and doctors said he didn't have a chance to sing any more, and he went away to Devas in Malva region of MP a sad recluse.
- was nursed back to health by his wife in mid-50s, and rediscovered himself and found a new path to music through Kabir Vani.
- created a new chapter in Hindustani music shorn of gharana tabs and sang thematic concerts for many years afterwards.
- lost his first wife, a great woman...remarried another disciple, and left behind a great legacy and many talented students.

Coming to these two films, unlike many films I have seen especially on South Indian artistes, these two films are not a series of eulogies using words like fantastic, incarnation, prodigy, musicians musician and so on; they are carefully-worded sincere (non-self-projecting) attempts to describe what was unique about the man and his music, with examples and musical audio/video clips. At the end of it all, you are left in a world of music and artistic sensibilities that go beyond hagiography.

The visual content of the films is also very artistic and moving.

I will surely recommend this as a BIG Sunday treat!!!

Ciao
Sachi R

Slouch trouble

From Economic Times Corporate Dossier today:

Life has no clean lines.

Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram - values to live by

The expression "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" invokes very happy vibrations in most Hindus. This expression is associated with the Vedas (Rig Veda, Rudra worship etc.?) and comes often in discussions of Adi Shankara's works. I read this morning a chapter on Saundarya Lahari - interpretations by the Kanchi Paramacharya. He explains that Devi, the mother goddess, is depicted by Shankara as the ultimate confluence of overflowing love = goodness and physical bodily beauty and that confluence can happen only in godhead. Man connects with everything that is beautiful and good instinctively, and that is because these values seem intrinsic to the loftier ideals of humanity.

I think Plato talked of Truth, Beauty and Goodness as abiding values for the philosophic progress of mankind. I just found a fine lecture by Steiner in 1923 on this theme.

Therefore these values of "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" = "Truth Goodness and Beauty" seem universal aspects of philosophical thought from time immemorial.

Osho has given a series of very beautiful lectures called Satyam Shivam Sundaram. He says that whereas "Sat-Chit-Anand" is a goal to be pursued in meditation, Satyam Shivam Sundaram is the external manifestation of the same ultimate reality that we can connect with in the world of creation.

Precisely. I think all values and philosophies start with me, as the perceiving, thinking, living entity. Without me, there is no Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Just as all conceptions of God, whatever religion and whatever deities we may worship, are only projections of our own philosophical pursuits and values.

Poetry and prayer are rooted in our conception of God or the Ultimate Reality. We can build fantastic treatises and books of prayer to expand this, and expound to others our thinking. That results in cults and religions. That results in beautiful works like Saundarya Lahari.

We can even connect mathematics, geometry, physics, music, art, and everything else in human artistic and scientific endeavour to this basic infrastructure of values of Truth Beauty and Goodness. Fundamentally, it all starts with human consciousness. That is the core principle. So Ramana said, ask yourself, "Who am I"
When I understand universal connectedness of consciousness, I think I have arrived. All the books and songs about "truth, goodness and beauty", and even, let me say it, Raj Kapoor's eponymous film, are entertainment on the way. It is like keeping school children entertained in a picnic with songs, dances and games so they don't get lost in the woods!

Now my own thoughts.

The first, truth, is something absolute, unassailable, undistortable. All pursuit of reality has to be based on truth. Truth is beyond sentiment, beyond preferences, beyond distortions. Of course absolute truth is beyond comprehension. But pursuing truth as a value is something like taking in a pathology report or a school marks card or report card. We may like to see something else, or we can project it into the past or future, but truth is something which is 100% The Present, not memory or wish. It is the basis of any progress. It is a bit like walking. In order to take the next step, I have to deal with the reality of the earth beneath my feet.

The second, goodness, is even more separated from my own preferences. When I see goodness, I have to appreciate it even if it is against me. For example, if I have a need for something selfish or mean, and someone is being good in denying me this, I have to deal with it. In fact if I am very self-centered, I often do not see goodness. I can be childish, churlish, corrupt or mean. I need to pursue the value of goodness by overcoming this. Goodness here is not a quality like fresh or pleasant, don't believe the ads. Goodness is an intrinsic quality of loving and giving. It is in the people, and even in abstract ways in things, like the cool and still water that nourishes the thirsty birds and animals in summer or the early morning sun.

And beauty is about MY preferences and desires! I like a sky-blue colour for my car. I like a nice warm pinkish glow in the cheek of a baby. I like the sparkle of beautiful music, the striking appeal of a well-done dance movement. Beauty is an ideal that exists in the abstract, but lives in my consciousness. That is why the bard said beauty is in the beholder's eye.

Now why this sequence? Because truth is inviolable and cannot be wished away. It is something universal. Goodness is a real, palpable, feel-able thing, for which I have to go beyond my selfishness and ego. Goodness connects me with the rest of humanity and creation. And beauty is a luxury, a value that I will embrace when I become a fuller being, a more developed consciousness. In fact at that level, it makes the three-fold value my personal path to liberation.

Truth goes beyond you and me. Goodness starts with you. Beauty starts with me. But to pursue the trio, my consciousness is the basic pre-condition.

Sunday @ the park

Sony Xperia Z photos

In the silence of the night

My newest Gizmo Sony Xperia Z

Well, I shall act all proud and shy and what not as you applaud my newest acquisition bought with hard earned money and hard suppressed craving. It's the latest and greatest Sony mobile phone. It is the sixth Sony phone I have owned. Apple and Sony are my two favourite gadget brands. Unlike Bose with which I have an uneasy intimacy, with these two I have pure love. I forgot to list Canon DSLRs and Lumix point & shoots. For their design, user interface, quality, reliability and long life. My second android phone this, sports everything I want in a phablet, and works fine as a phone too. I was one of the first to own it in Bangalore, but they sold four more in the same Sony store as I was standing at the checkout. Waterproof, full hd, lots of cool apps. Like blogger here. Well, talk to you soon with pics shot on this 13MP camera!

The Dying Indian Post Office.

Today's ET shows what I had been suspecting all along. The Indian Post Office is a dying phenomenon. Far gone are the days when we we waited for the postman with bated bath to bring us news of IIT admission, someone's job or wedding or a new arrival. Gone too the days when we had so much pleasure going and buying lovely postage stamps with lovely pictures of famous people or lovely art. Gone too perhaps the postal savings scheme and such. The PIN code we proudly show in everything called our postal address, is more like an epitaph to a dead institution.

When I lived in Germany, Australia and Singapore, when I used the US Post, I saw how cheerful those places were. They sold a lot of useful things, apart from postal stationery. They sold packing boxes and prepaid speed post envelopes. Hardy covers that would proudly withstand the ravages of transport and proudly declare where their trip began, when delivered with your lovely handwriting to your near and dear ones far away.

When I sent a lovely book recently by speed post to Canada, at a fraction of the cost of a private courier, the Indian Post delivered it fast and safe. Even today, we can't help going and checking every day our post box at the gate for some nice surprises. Alas, we find some useless handbills for pizzas and Andhra Chicken Biriyani.

Why can't we use our national imagination to make the Indian Post Office the centre of our social life? Here are a dozen ways we can bring the glory back:
1. The Post Office handles all postal and courier parcels with guaranteed efficiency and speed at lower cost and basically becomes the first mode of delivery. Revenues will grow 10X.
2. They have door to door pick up and delivery for a convenience fee.
3. You can buy all your stationery needs.
4. You can buy school books.
5. You can do your health insurance.
6. You can do national postal savings.
7. They offer all payments online through a single gateway with a credit card tie-up with SBI.
8. They offer scanning, faxing and binding services.
9. They have community events in each locality.
10. They offer special door to door service to all senior citizens.
11. They have special school events and projects.
12. They tie up with Railways to showcase how Post and Railway are big national integrators.

By doing all this, we will be using prime-location, trusted, government real estate for doing what the government can do best to serve the community well.

A story about three grains of wheat.

I heard this story from Osho.

A king was about to retire and wanted to select one of his three sons to inherit the reins of his kingdom. He called them all and told them that he was going to decide who among them would make the best successor. He gave each of them a grain of wheat and said they should each do what they deemed fit with the grain during the next couple of years when he would be gone on his travels.

On his return, the king called each son to narrate what he had done with the grain of wheat.

The first replied, 'father, as your successor, I should preserve the safety of our kingdom. I understood at once this grain of wheat is your metaphor for the kingdom. Here it is, I have kept it safe in a gold box.' When the box was opened, the grain looked wasted and dead.

The second son replied, 'father, I knew you wanted to test how well I would inherit the richness of our kingdom. The wheat grain was your metaphor for our wealth. The wealth of a grain is in its eating, so I cooked it and ate it up.'

The third and last son told his father, 'father, I request you to come with me to see what I have done with the grain'. He took him to a field, and showed a rich harvest of wheat. He said, 'father, the true potential of our kingdom is to grow and prosper. I knew your grain was your metaphor for the productive potential of our land. I took it, sowed it, and turn by turn, it has grown into a lot of wheat here in this field'.

The richness of life is in its living and growing. Not being hoarded away like gold.

Various mobile Internet options

From the "Right Choice" magazine:

Eating a Gold Dosa.

I admit I am a bit backward, because I did not see this BBC news item or read in the papers how a Darshini type of joint in Malleshwaram is making a killing selling Gold Plated Dosas.

My first reaction is disgust. As someone who travels long distances to eat good dosas, I have an intrinsic adoration for dosa as a divine food article. But I also know that many Indians regard Gold to be a symbol of all that is good and holy. Today our country has more than 750 million hungry and poor people because other people have been stashing away their wealth in idle gold so it appreciates and they make a killing, instead of employing their wealth in productive activities.

Gold represents all that is worldly and self-seeking and NON-productive. The Indian mind is warped and ill. Hence the craze for gold. And now will I eat a Dosa costing Rs. 1011/-, because it has a gold leaf stuck to it, whereas a decent dosa should not cost you more than Rs. 50/-?

Modern medicine says all heavy metals and heavy metal salts are TOXIC. The most benign explanation of the "pure" gold leaf's edibility is that it will not be digested and go out with the faeces the next day.

Ancient people used to take gold as medicine and as a fortifier because of myths. The rich people of the world today lace their chocolates and drinks with gold foils to show off. But a Darshini dosa costing Rs 1011/- because it has gold foil stuck on it...It is simply REVOLTING.

But I was revolted when I heard about a Devi temple built in pure gold by some self-made god-man. I think I have a problem with the obsessions people have with gold.

PS: I am amused when the rich poor young lady says in the video that the gold dosa is ISO certified. She doesn't know that ISO standards are not endorsements for products but a certificate for factory processes. I don't think this guy has any ISO process. Perhaps the municipal hygiene inspectors would have eaten his dosas before signing off his shop certificate.

Sharing photos with friends

Way back in 2001, my uncle celebrated his 100th birthday. It was a great event in the extended family, and I had great pleasure in meeting so many relatives and celebrating the grand old man's birthday. My uncle was fully active, healthy, happy and could remember names and details of all his relatives of four generations there.

I also had a camera which I had just purchased in Japan, the Sony DSC-P1. This camera made lovely 1 MP photos which I could see as I shot them, and I could also share them via the Sony photo sharing application on the Internet. Overnight, lots of people in the family around the world could see the birthday photos and feel happy.

Since then, I have shot and shared several thousand pictures. I am into my dozenth digital camera, and I have the cult camera Canon 5D Mark II which shoots in 21 MP and HD Video using a full frame sensor!

The beauty of digital cameras, whether they are the ones on your cell-phone or other DSLRs or Cybershots, is that

1. You can compose and optimize the photo as you shoot it.

2. Show it around right away.

3. Save it on your computer for future viewing.

4. Share it on the Internet.

By definition, digital cameras have a way to transfer the photos to your computer from the camera either directly using a USB cable or by removing the memory card and attaching it to your computer through a USB card reader. Once the photo is stored on your computer, you can use your Google or Yahoo account to upload the photo to a web album and share it.

Step 1 : how to transfer photos from camera to computer using Picasa

Step 2 : How to share pictures on web albums:



S. Balachander talks about the Veena, tanam playing and ragas

S.  Balachander (photo from Srutimag Blog)

There is a wonderful LecDem delivered at Indian fine Arts Society in 1985 by the veena virtuoso S. Balachander. It is available online at Sangeethapriya.Org for your listening or download.

The talk is over 90 minutes long and covers various aspects of playing the veena and the ghana-raga tanam. Balachander explains how his style of play leverages the left hand and comes close to vocal music:


Click here:
http://bit.ly/SBalachanderLecDem

S. Rajam - a genius beyond all labels

Thanks to Dr. VKV, I was able to buy the Kalakendra DVD on S. Rajam and watch it.
Congratulations to SB Khanthan and Lalitha Ram. They have produced a long documentary and tried to capsule the man's multifaceted genius. A number of distinguished musicians, artistes and others describe him and his greatness as it touched them in reverential joy. But I feel the labels are all like flowers that adorn a beautiful deity in such a way that we feel finally the flowers are only a token of our devotion, they can hardly embellish the true beauty of the idol.




I learnt to my astonishment that Sri Rajam-
...Learnt music from Balu Dikshitar, Papanasam Sivan, Muthiah Bhagavatar and Madurai Mani Iyer and many others.
...Learnt Purandaradasa krithis from Smt Lalithangi and won a first prize at MA in his teens, where she also competed and was placed second.
...learnt art and later visited Ajanta and decided to chalk out his own path with watercolours and brushes
...mastered and a taught 72 melakarta compositions of Koteeshwara Iyer
...tuned Sarvam Brahma Mayam in Madhuvanti
...was a famous extremely handsome film star when S Balachander, the brother was much younger and unknown
...could draw at 70 as he could draw at 25, and sing too the same way
...taught a song to anyone who asked, even someone on the street opposite BVB in Mylapore
...discovered the beauties of so-called Vivadhis and sang them so positively as to earn praise from SSI
(That's like a master discovering hidden beauty, flowering potential and fragrance in plants we long neglected in a well-tended garden showing off the roses and dahlias)
...created masterly multilayered watercolour works to embody the visualisations of Dikshitar and Thyagaraja and others...
...was least rewarded by the Carnatic community for his unremitting labours of astounding creativity.....

Yes, the labels fall off this man. Should we hail the era and milieu that gave birth to this man, or thank God that we breathe the same air that he breathed?

The survey of Carnatic music rasikas' preferences

Go through the survey results compiled and saved here:
http://bit.ly/YmYZPK

The survey attracted 293 responses to the four key questions.

The answers showed that musicians and rasikas have a clear ranking of attributes in their minds of what constitutes good Carnatic music.

An analysis showed that there was no significant variation of ranking patterns among respondent sub-populations.

The confidence level of 95% with 293 sample responses represents only 5.7% error margin even for an assumed large population of one million rasikas.

The top attributes of Carnatic music voted are:

1. Shruthi-alignment
2. Bhakti/Bhava of lyrics
3. Niraval and Kalpana swaras
4. Alapana Virtuosity
5. Trinity Compositions
6. Ragam Tanam Pallavi
7. On-stage Chemistry including accompanists
8. Big Six Ragas (Kalyani, S'bharana, K'priya, Todi, Bhairavi, Kambhoji)

Hopefully musicians and patrons can derive some insights from this survey.

Ciao

Wow, blazing broadband at 999 all told

Installed ACT fibre/Ethernet at home. Performs at >15X speed that I was getting with BSNL BB Combo! See acttv.in for details.

Radio- the greatest thing that happened to Carnatic music

A country of 1.3 billion people, many in corners unreachable by land air or water can listen to and enjoy the best of Carnatic music. Whatever instrument or voice, is recorded with fidelity. The announcers show respect for the artistes and the composers. They make you want to listen to it more and more.

Sick people, old people, poor people, uneducated people, unhappy people, drunks and derelicts, derive a connection with the best of Indian culture instantly. 24x7.

Artistes don't need to supplicate to Sabha secretaries. They need no guru recommendations. They can be handicapped, infirm, poor, ugly, incapable of selling themselves. All they need is to do well in the audition, and find their way up.

Famous musicians who want to navigate the popularity charts, who want to guide public tastes, who want to pay their tributes to their inspirations, can do so in an emphatic way, with reach and impact like no other medium.

Students who want to learn new krithis, understand the maestros, study the great composers, can do so. Almost at no cost.

Can we say Thank You enough to All India Radio? It is the modern avatar of devarshi Narada.

"nArada bittida dhareyoLage".

Internet on the Mobile

I have been using the Internet on my mobile phone for over 11 years now. Of course I have used during this time a high-end "smart"phone with a slick interface, fast processor, camera and memory on board.

But you will be surprised how good even the basic Android phones are today.

In order to use the Internet on your phone, you need to have :
1.A phone with features like E-Mail and Internet Browser. This is different from SMS & MMS.
2. It should have a good enough memory capacity ( at least a couple of GB).

Then you need a phone connection with either 2G or GPRS service or a 3G service.
When you get the connection, the phone company will help you via SMS or via phone call, to set up your mobile for Internet access.

If you don't have your phone set up for this service, you cannot access emails or browse the Internet from your phone.                                                                                                                                                              

Í currently DON'T USE my mobile phone 2G or 3G network for Internet, since I have multiple computers and iPads and I want to reduce my bills. By not accessing the 3G service on my mobile phone, and by changing my service plan (Airtel example shown above), I have saved more than 50% of my phone bills! I used to pay over 2000-3000 Rs a month, now I get around Rs 1000-1300 Rs a month. That's for my smart phone.

I have an iPad 3G on which I have a 6GB+ Internet connection with a flat Rs.900 pm plan.

So summary of tips on using Internet or Email on your mobile phone:

1. Make sure you have a phone with EMail  and Internet features.
2. Set up your 2G or 3G service plan with your mobile service provider based on your planned usage.
3. Use the mobile internet SPARINGLY or you will run up huge bills.
4. If you are a smartphone user with heavy on the road usage, go in for a large screen/phablet device with a 3G plan like my 6GB plan. 
5. Use Wifi wherever possible (surely at home, office and common places like Coffee Shops and Hotels where they will give you courtesy access).
6. Turn off the Mobile Data while roaming or using Wifi as inadvertently you can run up huge bills otherwise.
7. Remember, watching You Tube clips, downloading concert MP3 files, or similar heavy files can be costly on a mobile phone.
8. Always sync your phone with a computer to save/back up contacts and photos/videos/audio files.

You can check the speed of your internet connection at speedtest.net. 2G  gives me download speeds like 1.7 MBPS and 3G on my iPad gives me above 3 MBPS (sometimes 7 MBPS!) with Ping below 70 ms. Wifi is a bit slower, thanks to BSNL, but I have a Rs 1111 plan with a 15 GB limit there.

India does not really have a 4G network yet. 

For those who do lots of office email:

Go for BlackBerry. They have good plans and use a BlackBerry server for mail as well as BB messaging (it's like SMS but more private).

If you really want lots of apps on your phone, some wonderful camera work, and want to show off your Internet skills, Android or iPhones are better.

3G Tablets are for those who consume lots of  You Tube videos, movies etc. as well as read ebooks and blog etc. on the move. 

Read more about Airtel Internet from their website by clicking below:

Link: http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/airtel.in/airtel.in/home/foryou/broadband+and+fixed+line/

Prayer to the Goddess - inside story

Today's Sunday lunch was with close friends. The topic first was how all husbands are really under the wife's thumb, so to speak. But then again, if you see the tomes of prayer to the goddess, it is obvious men worshipped women's great goddess-like qualities.
See this picture. The book of prayers to the goddesses is 3 times the size of that to gods.

So shall we conclude that men worshipped their women as goddesses?
But wait! The real story of these prayers was revealed at this juncture by a scholarly and witty lady. We all know that the great rishis never wrote their works down, it was the disciples who heard and wrote down the verses in Kannada etc. Sorry, folks,  there seems to have been a small typo or transcription error. For example,

If what is written is
OM MAHA RUPINYAI NAMAH - OM, Prayer to the great beautiful goddess!
The actual could actually be ( say it loud - they both sound the same)
OM MAHA RUPINI YEN MAHA - OM, Big deal! Why should I call you beautiful goddess?

So I list some common prayers and give you the suggested real meaning.

1. OM TRIPURASUNDARI YEN MAHA - OM, Big deal! Why should I call you the most beautiful in the three worlds?
2. OM JAGADDHATRI YEN MAHA - OM, Big deal! Why should I call you the support of the universe?
3. OM SARVADUKHAHARINI YEN MAHA - OM, Big deal! Why should I call you remover of all sorrow?
4. OM VARADAYAKI YEN MAHA - OM, Big deal! Why should I call you giver of boons?
5. OM SHARANAGATAVATSALAA YEN MAHA - OM, Big deal! Why should I call you loving saviour of those surrendered to you?
6. OM SARVAPARADHAKSHAMAPINI YEN MAHA - OM, Big deal! Why should I call you the forgiver of all misdeeds?
7. OM LOKAMOKSHAPRADAYAKI YEN MAHA - OM, Big deal! Why should I call you giver of liberation to mankind?
8. OM MANDAHASINI YEN MAHA - OM, Big deal! Why should I call you one with the gorgeous smile?

Ode to the Obnoxious

Ode to the Obnoxious

Oh you scums that come in late,
And amble pompously to front-row seats,
Throwing broad smiles, snooty glances,
and looking propahly bored throughout!

Don't bloat when musicians bow to you.
Don't gloat as sabha cronies scrape to please you.
Take your business elsewhere and spare us your presence.
Throw your weight without a care, but spare us this excrescence.

If you want to cultivate culture, mend your manners.
Bring in your bourgeoisie bums, but without banners.
Avoid your antics, crass officious intents, and irresistible
Sudden cellphone urges. Or evaporate into thin air.

Those with weak bladders, wear adult diapers. If the music
Bothers you, amuse yourself outside with tepid pakodas.
Music halls need decorum, you're not here for whiskey and rum.
We, seated at the back,would like to give you a real smack.

Remember, those 'Reserved' placards on your seats
Look like they're from the coffin house.
You're anyway walking dead in concerts.
God save our music.

- Sachi R


The Hindu, which should be described as the ultimate Panchanga for all things pertaining to the South Indian way of life, published this piece called December Mist and Magic.

Credit card fraud

This came in today's ET. It gives the process for making complaints in case you're wrongly charged on your card due to fraudulent misuse.