Jag's Blog

The Miracle that was Not

2012-01-19T18:45:00.001+05:30

I recently watched an episode of Sherlock Holmes in the BBC serial. Holmes in today's world. Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Watson have done an excellent job.

In this episode, caught in the excitement of the case, Watson forgets his limp and the walking stick and is cured.

There is also a reference to his analyst who is treating him for intermittent shaking in his hands and has diagnosed it as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes diagnoses it as the result of Watson's addiction to action he experienced in Afghanistan!

If Holmes were to be in India, he would be deified, I am sure.

A friend had once told me the story of a man who had lost his legs and was wheelchair dependent.

This man heard of a healer somewhere in Karnataka and came all the way from Kerala to seek a cure. The healer took a look at the man, examined him and asked a lot of questions and asked the man to stand up. What? Yes, he was asked to stand up and the healer helped the man up. When his family members came forward solicitously to assist, they were shooed away. Miracle Miracle. The man stood up. Of course he had some difficulty but the healer would not hear of it.

Then he told the patient that there was nothing wrong with him and that others were making him believe that he could not walk.

Then he asked the patient to get going. Fees? Nothing. "I did not treat him at all. He is perfectly OK. So where is the question of a fee?"

When the patient started walking slowly to the car they had come in, again the family members tried to help him but were strictly forbidden from doing so.

If I remember right, my friend told me that he had accompanied the family as he was also from Kerala. I can't check since the friend is sadly no more. I can't get the details of the man either.

The healer was a simple man, in a dhoti and shirt. The place where he saw patients was also very simple and no fancy stuff at all. He was not after money, I am told and borne out by the above story.

So, what is the point of all this?

Not much perhaps but something very important. When something seemingly miraculous happens, you do not have to conclude that a miracle did happen. You may at least suspend your belief.

Especially when such a thing happens with a lot of fanfare and razzle dazzle you can be sure that you are being taken for a ride. Benny Hin's visit to Bangalore comes to mind. There was this funny incident when he touched Deve Gowda, the former prime minister and the then chief of Karnataka Police. Many others he touched had all collapsed and there were members of his entourage and volunteers to catch them. They were at the ready for these two too. They need not have wasted their efforts. These two stood like rocks.

aPaulogy - a Gallery of the Works of Paul Fernandes

2011-12-29T21:06:00.002+05:30

I visited it last Saturday and it was a great start to a week's holiday.

Paul's works on display are a curious and delightful mixture of cartooning and watercolour painting. Each work has elements of both in greater or smaller measure. Added colour is the word play and a fund of badly or wrongly written signboards collected with a keen eye.

One of the best things about this gallery is the way it has been arranged. Superb - is the word. It can not be described - it has to be seen, experienced. DO not miss the miniature Pianos made by Paul - both uprights and a grand.

My recommendation: Go see it, enjoy it and have a grand time!

It is open from 11 am to 7.30 pm on weekdays and Saturdays.

Address:

15 Clarke Road (Opposite Au Bon Pain) Richards Park Entrance, Richards Town, Bangalore - 560 005.

Here are some pictures I took.

The Power

2011-12-16T06:37:00.002+05:30

On a recent short holiday, a whole evening was spoiled by Ayyappa. I mean, Ayyappa's devotees. At the very edge of the reserve forest they have built a small temple. (In that setting, at dusk and dawn, with all the oil lamps lit, it is a beautiful sight I must admit, almost reluctantly.) and from 6 to 9 in the evening, the loudspeakers were blaring out the typical, sadistically monotonous Ayyappa songs. One particular song which has "kallum mullum" in it in the first few lines is really kallum mullum to my ears. In spite of it, long after even the devotees had had enough and left, the song was going through my mind in an endless loop- it just wouldn't leave me. A perfect earworm.

(Ayyappa, is also called Shasta or Dharmashasta - claiming that he preserved/interpreted (or something, I really do not know) the dharma shastras for this world. I am sure the shastras did not have anything that said, "thou shalt not cause harm and alarm to wild beings, who are also the creation of the supreme being, peace be upon him, especially in or close to their natural habitat" - ah that is a unification of three major world religions in one sentence.)

When I related this incident to an Ayyappa devotee, he half earnestly said that it was an earworm because it was the power of god in general and Ayyappa in particular.

Then came Kolaveri di.

Pandit Vijaya Raghav Rao - A Multi Faceted Genius

2011-12-07T18:21:00.002+05:30

Pt. Vijaya Raghav Rao, a flutist I admired a lot, passed away recently. I came to know about it yesterday and here is a small tribute to him.

He is prominent among the long list if South Indians who made a name in and contributed to the field of Hindustani music.

If I remember right, I heard him first on a AIR Radio Sangeet Sammelan. Later, I realised that music for most of the Films Division documentaries at that time was composed by him. On the rare occasions I saw a movie, I would look out for the credits to these documentaries and I would have guessed if the music was indeed his or someone else. Even in a field like that, his refined sense and distinctive style were recognisable - not an easy task.

While I was researching on the net for this post, I found that he was the music coordinator for the film Gandhi by Attenborough, he composed music for Mrinal Sen's "Ek Adhoori Kahani" and "Bhuvan Shome", among others, and that there is a movie on him, (made by his son?), called My Father: An Artist.

Sometime ago, I sketched a portrait of this sensitive musician and I post it here in tribute to him.

Beware of these "Slippers"

2011-11-24T18:26:00.000+05:30

Look at the sole of this bathroom / household / Hawai slippers.

Its "designer" must have contributed to the financial well-being of orthopaedics and pharmacists at great risk to life and limb of people.

You wear a pair of these and step on water on smooth floor (not the rough road is what I mean) and hey presto!, you are horizontal on the floor. The sole has pyramid shaped depressions. When your weight falls on the slipper, the air trapped in the depressions must somehow escape. When it does you become a "hovercraft" and the foot does not get any grip.

So, before you buy a pair of slippers (What a perfect name in this case!), watch out for the sole. Avoid those with this feature like the plague! If you have a pair at home like this, cut them and throw them away. If I am not mistaken, even Bata sells a model like this, in India.

There may be other such designs. If you look at the soles, you will be able to see if air could be trapped somewhere.

So beware!

Neither Legal Nor Logical

2011-10-18T19:44:00.004+05:30

A friend sent me the following joke, in German, from Germany, by e-mail.

A student failed in Logic and Organisation examination.

Student: You have failed me in the examination. But do you really understand anything yourself?

Professor: Of course I do! If not, I would not be a professor.

Student: OK, then. I will ask you something. If you give me the right answer, I will just go away. If you cannot, you have to give me 60% marks.

Professor: Agreed.

Student: What is legal but not logical, logical but not legal and neither logical nor legal.

The professor thought a long time and gave the student 60% marks and went away.

He then called his best student and asked him the same question.

The stduent answered right away: You are 63 but married to a 35 year old lady. It is legal but not logical. She has a 25 year old paramour. That is logical but not legal. That you gave 60% marks to your wife's lover when he had failed is neither legal nor logical!

Now, it continues, I ask you the same question.

No idea? Here is a good answer then:

It is legal that we sit here and work, but not logical. It is logical that we mail each other such jokes but not legal. It is neither legal nor logical that we get paid for it!

I hope my bosses do not read my blog!

Lookout!

2011-09-20T18:28:00.002+05:30

Click on the image to see larger

Pulling My Own Leg

2011-08-18T19:29:00.004+05:30

We have an in-house magazine. It is called The Big PICture. The last issue was a humour special. I contributed the article reproduced below. I have made some additions to it.

******

A sense of humour is not just about enjoying a joke, especially when the target is someone other than you. Here are some I have pulled on myself or really good ones pulled on me by others.

I had some ear problems. I went to the ENT specialist. He was a serious, gentle and thoughtful man. He put me on the examination chair, peered into my ear with an Otoscope. I felt that he was peering right into the innards of my head. After some serious and concentrated peering, he took the instrument out and said thoughtfully, as if talking to himself, “There is nothing organic”. I asked him with a disappointed look, “Not even a cabbage?”. I had to wait quite some time before he could recover from his laughter and give me a prescription.

I joined Philips 9 years ago and after a couple of months a friend came to visit me at work. We chatted for a while and he asked me what my department was called. Intellectual Property and Standards, I told him with some not inconsiderable pride. His question, with a dead pan expression, was, “What work do you have there, then?”

This friend and I worked together earlier. In that place, drinks were served at your desk twice a day. Before or after that, you could not get anything to drink for love or for money. You gave a coupon, worth 15 Paise, (Ya, I do mean 15 Paise) to the tea boy and he gave you a steel tumbler full of the drink of your choice – well coffee or tea. We two hosted the morning drink for all hands on a particular day of the year and called it our birthday – spiritual birthday. The first of April.

I have very low tolerance for alcohol. One glass of beer and I feel light headed. (It is economical, isn’t it? Alas, I can’t brag like some macho guys – “Eight pegs of whiskey! Nothing happens.” Why drink then? Might as well drink water, right?) The alcohol goes straight to my head, so to say. The reason? Well, could it be that “nature abhors a vacuum”?

I was in IIT Kharagpur doing my M Tech. I was known to be an analog and power electronics hardware geek, averse to software. A friend came to my room and found the book Artificial Intelligence in my room. “How come?”, he asked me expressing surprise. “I have no natural intelligence of my own. I was wondering if this helps!” was my reply.

Just the other day, I took my wallet out of my pocket and a comb fell out. My impudent son exclaimed, “Oh! You carry a comb!”

Recently I lost my old mobile. My sons insisted on my buying a smart phone. I have a gnawing suspicion that they wanted something smart about their dad!

The best thing about pulling your own leg periodically is that it hurts less when others do! On a more serious note, it saves your head from being filled with hot air and hence prevents people from laughing at you and makes them laugh with you.

*******

The article ended with this self (pen) portrait:

About the Author: Anil is an electronics engineer engaged in the serious business of protecting Intellectual Property of the company. His hobbies include writing blogs (quite a different cup of tea from writing patent specifications), visual arts (sketching, watercolour painting), music (Veena), poetry (Kannada) and so on, all of which he takes seriously!

Advertisement in Bad Taste?

2011-08-14T19:21:00.000+05:30

THis is my opinion. Do you think so too?

Watch this "funny" video.

You perhaps see the absurdity of it and think that it happens in "some strange, uncultured country? What kind of logic is this? One way to settle scores with a man is to hurt an unsuspecting, uninvolved innocent woman?" Or something like that?

Now see this advertisement of Airtel 3G / Facebook.

Made by Rising Sun Films - for JWT Ad agency (Director : Shoojit Sirca, Producer : Ronnie Lahiri, DOP : Kamal Negi, Agency : JWT Delhi)

I can't beleive that a serious film maker's movie is banned in some states of this country just based on the apprehension that it hurts the sentiments of a section of society but no women's organisation raises its voice against this ad which is in such poor taste!

An Unusual Exhibtion

2011-08-07T12:06:00.001+05:30

Last week, I attended an unusual exhibition of paintings and sketches. I had received the invitation for the event in Bangalore from the US! Long route, eh?

My friend Amrit had sent the invitation. The works were of his aunt. The exhibition was in celebration of her 80th birthday.

I did not know what to expect when I went there and was immediately captivated and impressed by the works on display. I was glad that I had received the invitation and I had decided to ride a bike half way across the city.

The best thing I can do is let you have a look at the pictures I took. Unfortunately I just missed meeting the birthday lady herself as she had just then left for home.

I must congratulate and thank the artist's daughters for organising this unusual birthday!

Spirit of Inquiry

2011-07-31T20:10:00.002+05:30

This is the map of the roads around my home.

In spite of the road blocks in place, people drive or ride their vehicles up to the point marked X. Then they think that they can take the road to the right to reach another road. The workers and other people on the road tell these riders/drivers that this is a "dead end road", to no avail. People go to the end of the road, see that there is no way out and then turn around with great difficulty and then go back. This has been happening for days now.

It amazes me that people want to find out the truth for themselves.

I also wish that they display the same spirit of inquiry to other matters. Apparently many do not.

Recently in a newspaper published readers' questions and the answers given by dual Sri Ravi Shankar.

The Question: Why do we get angry.

2XSri RS: Because we are perfectionists and we get angry when we do not get perfection in actions. Actions can never be 100% perfect. They can only be 95% perfect. 100% perfection can be achieved in only thought and speech.

I have tried to reproduce the above Q&A as accurately as possible. I tried to get the original but failed.

My wish is that the readers ask some simple questions of themselves.

What is the measure of this perfection?
Why is only 95% perfection is possible. Is 2XSri grabbing the number out of thin air as another guru used to grab branded watches out of the same source? Or is there a basis for that number?
What IS perfection in speech? And thought?
How does one measure it?
Have we ever encountered an instance of perfect speech or perfect thought?
Is that the only or even the true cause of our anger?
Does the above theory help one overcome anger?

I wish the readers of his Q&A exhibit the same spirit of inquiry that many exhibit with the blocked road and the dead end road!

Prabal Mallick's Solo Exhibition

2011-07-23T19:59:00.003+05:30

I just returned from an exhibition of watercolours by Prabal Mallick at CKP - (Chitrakala Parishat)

I love good watercolours and Prabal's are lovely. Each of his works is all that a good watercolour should be.

Here are some pictures from the exhibition with Prabal.

Here are more works by Prabal for you to see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4UpsdHM9aA
http://penciljammers.com/profile/PrabalMallick
http://www.facebook.com/prabal.mallick?sk=photos
http://micheal-learns-to-paint.blogspot.com/
http://community.how-to-draw-and-paint.com/profile/PrabalMallick
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/prabal-mallick.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51743818@N02/

A Self_Confessed Atheist

2011-07-15T18:56:00.000+05:30

A friend and I arrived after a 5 km long drive. We were of course talking on the way and he ended up with "You atheists put a lot of pressure on us theists". What? I told him, "On the way just now, we saw at least 10 hoardings which tried to sell you god, various brands of religions and spirituality and so on. Did you find one board trying to sell atheism? Who is putting pressure on whom?".

"But there is invisible pressure." He said. I had to retort, "You theists are used to believing in invisible, non-existent things anyway. So your accusation does not mean anything."

Even though this may sound acrimonious, it was not. All in good humour. So it was fun.

Today Ravi sent me this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14135523

Very funny, very interesting.

The sentence that caught my attention was the one that starts with "A self-confessed atheist, Mr Alm says....". Self-confessed? Being an atheist is no crime to confess to, surely. Self-proclaimed, self-declared will do nicely, thank you!

You think that I am being over sensitive about this? Not at all. It is a point of diction. As Richard Dawkins says, the feminists raised our consciousness by objecting to sex bias by objecting to words like chairman, workman (and even HIStory) and so on. This is also like that. I would want to rewrite that sentence referred to earlier as: Mr Alm, an atheist, says ....

To prove a point to myself I asked a colleague if she was a self-confessed Roman Catholic. She looked at me with incredulity. QED

Now, who puts pressure on who, please?

What do you say?

Bob A Pease

2011-06-25T13:07:00.002+05:30

It is rare that the death of a person you have never seen leaves you feeling that it is a personal loss. The death of Bob Pease left me such a feeling of loss.

I am sure Bob would have laughed at the news of his death.

I came to know of Bob Pease from his column called Pease Porridge. Articles in this column were invariably titled "What is all this --- Stuff Anyhow?" What took the place of --- had great variety. Femtoamperes, Double-clutching, Neatness and so on, to name a few.

This man is a legend and held in great awe by those who know or admire or interested in the field of analog electronics. He was a designer par excellence. Larger than life. With a great intuition, imagination and deep knowledge and above all, great love for the analog world.

Tragically, he died in a car crash involving his eloved VW Beatle. He is the author of a book on how to avoid a car crash. And he was returning from the memorial service of another legend in the field of Analog electronics - Jim Willam.

Among other interests, Bob trekked in the Himalayas. The only sort of contact I had with him was when a friend and I wrote to him to find out how much it would cost to join him on one of his trips. (There was an invitation to those interested in joining him to write to him). I could, if I had the money and I did not.

He was gracious, witty and meticulous in his reply. Every point I had made was followed with a *** in the next line and his answer.

Whether you are interested in Analog or not, whether you are an engineer or not, google him and read a little about him and a few of his articles. You will be ther richer for it.

M F Husain

2011-06-09T21:29:00.000+05:30

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury M F Husain, not to praise him.

There ends my attempt at oratory and more or less my familiarity with Julius Caesar.

That is beside the point. I have been planning to write about Maqbool Fida Husain, his art and the controversies surrounding him and so on, for quite some time and his death has goaded me into action, at last.

Let me narrate my encounters with him.

The University of Mysore conferred upon him an honorary doctorate in 1978. As is the tradition each of the recipients of the honorary doctorates were expected to speak. When it was his turn to speak, Husain went to the curious object that stood on the dais that was completely covered by a large cloth. He cut an impressive figure in his flowing convocation robes. He removed the cloth to reveal an easel with a prepared canvas on it, a palette and some tubes of paint and brushes. Without uttering a word, he squeezed generous blobs of colour on to the palette, painted a peacock with brisk sure strokes, bowed to the Chancellor, the Vice Chancellor and the audience. I thought that he was saying that he was proud as a peacock. He was not done yet. He went back to the canvas and with deft strokes painted the crown on the peacocks head. He went back to his seat to deafening applause.

What a showman!

I wonder what the University did with that painting. Perhaps it was discarded somewhere or did Husain take it with him? I do not have much hope for it if it remained in the hands of the University officials. This is the university which destroyed a magnificent mural by K K Hebbar on the walls of its library when the library building was expanded.

The next time I saw him was in Bombay. I was waiting for a bus in front of TIFR and a white Mercedes came to a halt at its gates. The driver was invisible because of the darkened glasses and the driver’s side door opened. A long lean unshod foot appeared from behind the door and then the unmistakable figure of Husain emerged.

Years later I saw him in Deccan Gymkhana, Pune. He came to a restaurant and sat waiting for some others to join him. He carried a long handled brush, as a walking stick, perhaps. I and my friend Praveen Sutrave dug into our pockets for something suitable to get his autograph on. We only found our business cards. We went to him and he graciously gave us his autograph. I still have it with me somewhere.

I saw him last when he walked in to a music concert at the Mysore Palace during Dasara. He was dressed stylishly in dark green trousers, brown shirt and a matching green waistcoat. Before you know what had happened the heads turned and the whole audience that was very attentive till then was staring at him! He did a Namaste to the musicians and quietly walked away.

Years earlier to all this, in the sixties, I had seen a portrait he had made of Dr. A. Rahman, a scientist in CFTRI and a good friend of my father. Years later I asked Rehman_mama (as I called him) what had become of that portrait. Husain had walked into his house one day and said that it was not a good portrait and took it back with him promising a better one soon, which never materialised.

This is my tribute to a man whose colourful character I followed with fascination over the years. In spite of all the vitriolic things hurled at him and his art, I have admired his art for whatever it was worth. A true evaluation of his art is right now possible for me because the scene is confused by the obscene amounts of money his works get sold at and the media hype about him.

I rest my case, which is no case at all!

God, Hawkings and so on

2011-05-18T08:45:00.002+05:30

Here is something I read in The Hindu today and found very interesting. You may too.

The Guardian Interviewer, Ian Sample, has also written more about it here on his blog.

Often, during discussions on god or religion, people say something like, "Even Einstein believed in god and said that science without religion is lame". I am unlikely to hear them say now, "Even Stephen* Hawkings says that there is no god".

* Not to be confused with even-stevens assuming that you pronounce Stephen as Steven and not Stefen - both of which are correct.

Human Rights

2011-05-17T19:02:00.000+05:30

A couple of friends and I were having a coffee break at work . Both of them were incensed that the trial of Kasab had become a farce. Why should there be so much of a fuss about a trial and so on. As I have seen it happen many times before, the talk turned towards human rights activists (HRA). Both my friends are gentlemen and hence no foul language was used. In other situations with other persons involved, I have heard the HRA being called unmentionable things.

I too wonder sometimes as to why it should take so long to bring a person who is so obviously the perpetrator to justice.

These gentlemen went on and on, I had to do something. I asked one of the friends who has a son. The son is very intelligent boy and very talented in many fields. He is at the top 1 or 2% of his class in studies, draws well for his age, good at chess and so on. So, I asked him – let us call him L.

“L, just imagine this situation. Your son is coming back from college. The police come and arrest him on some trumped up charge. They plant a weapon in his bag and claim that that was the murder weapon. They fabricate other evidences also and take him to court and want him hanged. How will you feel?“ He paled even thinking about the imaginary situation.

I told him, “This is what the HRAs are for. They have to defend the innocent and the defenseless”. The only way they can do that is that human rights requirements are met, procedures are adhered to and the process of law is followed. They have to do that to everyone – no exceptions. The principle of law is that a man is innocent until proved guilty and he should be treated (not believed, if you like) as innocent.”

I think my argument touched them. At least I hope so.

If anyone who reads this feels frustrated about something done by HRAs, just imagine the fate of my friend’s son for someone near and dear to you.

Here is one site that might interest you: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-and-death-penalty. If an elaborate justice system can do this, imagine what happens if it is offhand and principles are thrown to the winds?

Javed Akhtar on Spirituality

2011-03-16T20:09:00.002+05:30

A good friend e-mailed me the text of Javed Akhtar's talk on Spirituality at the India Today Conclave of 2008.

You can read the text of the talk here. Brilliant.

While looking for more information on the subject, I came across the apparent response of Ravishankar of the Art of Living Foundation.

The response sounded insipid and defensive and often self-contradictory to me.

I sent the text to some friends who practice their respective religions. They all came back and said that the talk was very good. That has left me almost confused, but happy.

At one point in his response, Ravishankar challenges - does anyone criticize (Mother) Theresa or Dalai Lama. ( Well, I do.) This is a very well worn ploy of "(poor) us against (the evil) them" used by many to garner support. Christopher Hitchens even wrote a book about Theresa - provocatively titled "The Missionary Position". You can get a taste of his views here.

I hope you enjoy the read.

Jeffry Archer in Bengaluru

2011-03-09T20:59:00.014+05:30

Jeffry Archer in Bengaluru

I got off the office bus and walked to Reliance Timeout to see and hear Jeffry Archer. I had wondered if it was worth the trouble after a particularly tiring day at the office and my feet hurt in the hard soled leather shoe - a far cry from the sports shoes that I normally wear.

It was. It was great fun to listen to him speak and act. Yes, act. He regaled the audience with stories of some TV interviews that he did in the US - acting various parts of it. Very funny.

He said things that impressed me very much. It was about talent and hard work. He gets up at 5:30 every morning and writes for two hours. Then takes a break and writes again from 9:30 for two hours. This write-and-break routine goes on the whole day. He said talent is one thing but you have to work to make something out of it!

I hope young and old, who aspire to do something and get better at it, are listening.

Some snippets:

He often writes about Polish people because he likes and admires the Polish "race". (The last

word sounded odd to me) The reason he gave was that Poland was the first country to bear the brunt of Hitler's Germany and many Poles came to England and became air force pilots to fight Hitler. hmmmm

His favourite artist is Caravaggio and favourite sculptor, Bernini. Interesting.

"Indian women are so pushy!" he says to the men in the audience, "You are finished! You are done for. Beware! Run!"

Like a true showman he answered the question, "What inspires you to write" you! (Applause) What drives him to put in all that hard work is that he reads Steinbeck, Graham Greene, R K Narayan and knows that he has to get to be like them and that he is not. The aspiration to "get there" drives him.

He finally said that he will be "here" until the last person had his autograph even if it meant that he will go directly to the airport tomorrow to catch the flight at 9. (Applause) And he insulted Indians. And we deserve it. He promised to autograph the book of every last man (woman) provided, "You do something that you are not accustomed to do at all! Stand in an orderly queue, you guilty lot" he roared!

(These white men do not get it. The Japanese use fuzzy logic to do anything and everything - wash clothes, take better pictures, sweep the floor, flush the toilet and what have you. We Indians form a fuzzy queue, and spit all over the place while we are at it, as long as we are not busy honking the horn at all impediments in our paths including road humps.)

Here are some pictures of the event and a video too - for those who wanted to or would have liked to be there but could not or were not.

Workshop on Watercolour

2011-03-01T08:30:00.004+05:30

Here comes a workshop on Watercolours, in Bangalore.

It is conducted by George Supreeth. To know more about him just google with "george supreeth" (with the inverted commas) and you can see a wide variety of his works.

I have to juggle stuff, but attend it I will. If you are even a wee bit interested in doing watercolours, you should attend it too!

A Day at the Museum

2011-02-27T19:55:00.006+05:30

Today:

I was in the Government Museum on Kasturaba Road, Bangalore. A few other members of the sketch club called Pencil Jammers of which I am a member, were with me. We stood there sketching some of the 10th and 11the century sculptures on display there.

The guards, one a Bengali and the other an Assamese, were very curious about what we were doing. They kept watching what we did and gave their opinion on how we are doing. But, they are highly appreciative. They are so impressed that they found some folding chairs and offered them to the the couple of girls in the group. That was awfully nice of them.

Then comes an officer of the museum and challenged us about what we were doing, almost offensively. "Shouldn't you come and ask for permission before sketching?" I am asked. I explain about Pencil Jammers patiently. I say that the two of the girls are students in a premier, internationally esteemed educational institution in Bangalore and also where I work. I also say that our interests are purely artistic. We are finally allowed to continue.

There is a "No Photography" rules in many musea. I never understood why. Flashes can ruin the pigments in paintings. So, a "No Flash" rule is understandable. Why no photography?

Flashback 1985:

I was in the Birmingham Museum. I was ill prepared for the visit and I wanted to make some notes about some interesting exhibits - Degas' Ballerina - for instance. I went to the reception and asked hesitantly, if it was possible to get some paper. Pronto comes a clip board, five sheets of paper and pencil to boot. It was not a dream. I am told, "Just leave the pad and the pencil here on your way out please?". Thank you very much.

*****

Flash forward:

Here are some of the sketches I made at the museum yesterday.

Tara, Bihar, Ca 10th Century

(Not sure if it is Brihaspatacharya's wife Tara or Vali's wife Tara or the female Bodhisattva or the form of Shakti)

Teerthankara, Ca 11th Century AD

Black Magic

2011-01-24T18:52:00.011+05:30

A unique workshop is coming up. A workshop on Black Magic!

Ah! If you have visions of revenge and harming your boy/girl friend who ditched you or your boss who did not promote you, you are out of luck.

This is black because it uses charcoal. And magic because you can learn to create something

beautiful/powerful/haunting

with it!

The workshop is conducted by Priya Sebastian.

Read more here.

A Giant is no More - A Personal Tribute to Bhimsen Joshi

2011-01-24T18:39:00.004+05:30

What a singer he was! (It hurts to use the past tense)

The first time I heard him live was in Bombay. 1980, I think. Until then my exposure to his music was only through the radio.

The concert was in Birla Mathusri Sabhagar. As I remember it, it is huge - at least compared to the smaller auditoria I was accustomed to in Mysore. The auditorium and and the stage dwarfed the man. My first thought was, "How is he going to fill this place?"

He took his time settling down. Fussed about the Tambura. Passed it on to the tambura player when he was satisfied. Then he sat facing the audience. Eyes closed. Back erect. Meditative, it looked. He cleared his throat vigorously, raised his right arm pointing N-W and elevation of 45 degrees and held Shadja.

It was time for the hall to be dwarfed. Make no mistake, there was electronic amplification. That amplified the volume, not the capacity to fill the auditorium.

I have forgotten what Raag it was. Purya Kalyan, perhaps. I remember that the petite girl friend of my friend closed her ears in awe at the first note, shivered, with eyes wide open in amazement. How the next three hours or so passed is not known.

That is what I will always remember whenever I hear him sing.

Another time, I heard his famous Daasa Vaani casette and in particular Karuniso Ranga Karuniso. When it ended, I noticed my shirt front was wet with tears. (1986, IIT Kharagpur, VS Hall)

Among the many greats that the small area of North Karnataka around Dharwar has given to Hindustani Music, the most famous was, perhaps, Bhimsen Joshi. I have heard some learned musicians say that he never achieved the real musical greatness that he was capable of and so on. His repertoire of Raagas and "chees" was limited, they say. For me and many many others none of it mattered. When he sang, we were transported. At least here, we can use the present tense. When he sings, we are transported, thanks to the many recordings we are lucky enough to have at our disposal.

I heard this today and it gives a good glimpse of his singing.

Recently, someone mailed me about him referring to him by the community he belonged to. That reminded me of this I wrote about Gangu Bai Hangal some time ago.

Anna Turns Ninety

2011-01-21T18:25:00.007+05:30

I had a very different and very pleasant beginning for this year - 2011.

My father (J R Lakshmana Rao) turned 90 today (21 January, 2011) and my mother 84 on 1st. We celebrated the occasion on 1st January. We had an informal get together. No speeches, no programme. All the invitees - mostly those in Mysore - met my parents and we all had dinner together.

We launched a website on the occasion. Please visit the site.

My son Maitreya did most of the creative part and the hard bull work part of the website and his friend helped in going on line with it.

In some ways this is still WIP. We hope to add some more features by and by.

Here are some photographs from the occasion.

I have had a long break from this blog. I hope to write more in futuiure.

The url of this blog is safetvalve pronounced safe-t-valve to indicate that it helps me let off steam. I have a more regular valve now - my artisitc pursuits.

You can see most of it here.

Gayatri Mahesh at Renaissance Gallerie

2010-12-28T17:49:00.007+05:30

Looks like it is the season for exhibitions by Pencil Jammers!

Today, I visited the group exhibition at Renaissance Gallerie in which Gayatri Mahesh participated. I photographed only his corner and here are the photographs.

The Left Corner

Pencil Jammers are already familiar with some of his works and here they can take a look at them in the exhibition setting.

The Centre

I hope that other Jammers visit the exhibition and encourage a fellow Jammer, of course!

Click on the pictures to view bigger.

The Right Corner

Priya Sebastian

2010-12-18T20:22:00.015+05:30

I visited Priya Sebastian's art exhibition that I blogged about earlier. It was a great pleasure seeing her works for real. Apartfrom the time when she took part in a Pencil Jammers jam, I had seen her works only on the net.

The venue and the arrangements were also a pleasant surprise.

The exhibition was held in the Boutique "Plantation House". It is run by Shalini, an alumna of NID. The silky blacks of Priya's art were complemented by the dark cloth and their varied textures. The boutique, I was told, was designed by Shalini and other alumni of NID.

Shalini and Priya

On the whole, I had a great time.

!! Tomorrow is the last day !!

Priya Sebastian's Art

2010-12-10T19:01:00.006+05:30

Another friend from Pencil Jammers, Priya Sebastian, is holding an exhibition of her works!

Here are the details in the invitation designed by "none other than" (as Priya put it) Prabha Mallya, another Pencil Jammer.

Do visit the exhibition!

(Click on the image to view larger)

A Wrong Number is Never Busy?

2010-10-28T09:41:00.001+05:30

"Ever wonder why a wrong number is never busy?" goes a question in a chain mail. It immediately strikes a chord in you. You feel, "Really! How true!"

You hear this sob story. "Whenever I miss a call from an unknown number and call back, I find it to be a guy who called a wrong number". That strikes a chord too. "Happens all the time".

He got an engaged wrong number didn't he? You know what I mean?

Two Art Exhibitions

2010-10-26T18:27:00.005+05:30

I had been to two art exhibitions recently. One was, of course, that of Prabha Narayanan that I had already blogged about.

Here is she is, between two of her paintings. Large canvasses, acrylic colour portraits of people from the Kumaon region. She called it the drip series. You will know why, when you see the paintings. (See below) These paintings were very different from the line drawings and watercolours of hers that I have seen. Completely new and in unchartered territory for her. In order not to sound too much like an art critic, let me say, I enjoyed and admired her works!

The other exhibition was that of Amrish Malvankar's abstract paintings. I am not a great fan of abstract art. So, I was surprised that I liked his paintings. Even at the risk of sounding like an art critic, I would say that the colurs are bright, many or most of his paintings exude optimism and serenity, I felt. Or was I biased by the three Buddha images at the very beginning of the rows of paintings?

It really does not matter. As for me, I enjoyed my time watching the paintings.

Prabha Narayanan's First Solo Show

2010-10-19T18:24:00.003+05:30

A fellow Pencil Jam member (Pencil Jammer), Prabha Narayanan, is holding the first solo show of her art in Chitrakala Parishat, starting tomorrow.

I admire her art a lot.

I am sure you do too. Please do visit the show!

Murder

2010-10-13T18:59:00.001+05:30

What do you want,

by burning books?

The glory that covered

the perpetrators of "Kristallnacht"?

The cloud off the flames -

the book's truth to permeate the world.

The dust that falls - a culture's ashes

that saw in a book, Saraswathi herself.

The pile you burn,

her funeral pyre, nude or not.

No Comments

2010-10-10T17:04:00.002+05:30

There are 365 days in a year.

That means there are 365 X 24 = 8760 Hrs in a year.

It amounts to 8760 X 60 = 525600 Minutes a year.

In 30 Years there are 525600 X 30 = 15, 768, 000 minutes.

Mata Amritanandamayi is supposed to have hugged 29 million devotees in 30 years, according to a news report.

That amounts to 1.84 (~2) hugs a minute, every living minute of the last 30 years. No sleep, no food, no travel and no other engagements.

In lieu of in lieu of in view of

2010-10-04T19:46:00.001+05:30

Does the title of this post look as if there is a typo?

Actually not. It can be parsed to mean something.

The reason for the title is this.

"An architectural milestone in lieu of the Commonwealth Games" declares a headline.

What it means is in view of. This seems to have become a very common mistake.

Atheists Better at Religion

2010-10-03T20:18:00.003+05:30

Here is a news item I read on Spiegel Online and translated for my own pleasure and thought others might be interested in it too.

**** **** ****

Non-believers Know Religions Best

Where was Christ born? What is the first book of the Bible called? People who do not believe in god are most likely to answer such questions. A survey in the US showed that atheists and agnostics knew all about religion.

Washington: According to a recent survey in the US, non-believers know the most about world religions. In a survey of the renowned opinion survey institute PEW about religious knowledge confessed atheists and agnostics the averaged best.

The researchers interviewed 3412 adults in the US about world religions. On an average, atheists could answer correctly 21 out of 32 questions about beliefs, history and representatives of world religions. Protestants knew, on an average 16 correct answers, Catholics only 14.7. Jews came up, on an average, with 20.5 and Mormons with 20.3 correct answers.

Even with questions about Christianity the non-believers averaged better than Catholics and Protestants. In this case, only the Mormons were ahead of agnostics and atheists.

Among the residents of the US, the majority of who identify themselves as Christians, was the lack of knowledge about their own religion clearly noticeable. Only 71 percent of the surveyed knew that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Only 63 percent were in a position to name Genesis as the first book of the bible.

If you are interested, you can see some of the questions of the survey here.

*** *** ****

Interestingly I, an atheist, answered 13 out of 15 questions right. 87% and I was rated to be at 93 percentile. I knew that I would be marked wrong on one answer but the official correct answer is disputable. A catholic colleague of mine answered 13 questions right too. So, it is neither here nor there!

A Z Ranjit 60

2010-09-12T20:45:00.008+05:30

As you can see, from the badge "I wear on my blog page", I am a member of a sketch club - Pencil Jam.

One of the distinguished members of the club is Mr. A Z Ranjit, a great artist and a great human being. He is turning sixty on 19th of this month. He has organised an exhibition of his works in Chennai starting 20September 2010. Please see the invitation and the poster attached below.

If you are from Chennai, or you are in Chennai during the week starting 20 September, 2010. Please do visit the exhibition and wish him and support him. I am sure it will be a rewarding experience.

You may read a little more about him here.

Here is a brief resume of A Z Ranjit.

This and That

2010-09-01T18:55:00.003+05:30

It has been a long time since I blogged. I was spending most of my free time sketching and hence the hiatus in the blog. I took a break from such furious 'artistic' pursuits and hence this post. (After reading this post, you may wish that I had not taken a break, but that is your privilege)

You may see the results of my artistic efforts here. Please scroll down almost to the bottom of the page and see the slide show.

I had never read a Perry Mason mystery. No idea why. I thought it was time to change it and read one. The Case of the Phantom Fortune, it is called. Now that I have broken the jinx, I might read a few more.

Some other things caught my attention once in a while.

I was amused by the advertisement for a water purifier. Kent, to be specific. The "punch line" delivered by an erstwhile Bollywood diva turned politician and member of Rajya Sabha is that the water purified by it is 100 percent pure! Gimmeabreak! Isn't there something called truth in advertising? Or is it an oxymoron?

Another ad that caught my attention is that of Fair and Handsome. (The very idea of the product and its feminine twin appears to me Unfair and Ugly) It is a real funny one. I wonder if there is any difference between the fair and lovely and the male version. If there is, what the difference is. Or is it that only the name has undergone a sex change operation? Further, the ad says that you can become fair and handsome in just 5 rupees. How many five rupees is not mentioned. I think the ad says that if you use the cream for three weeks, you can notice the difference. Does it mean that the 5 rupee packet or sachet is enough for three weeks?

It is said that a shampoo maker (Chik?) started producing sachets of shampoo that catered to the bottom of the pyramid customers. Win-win proposition. The company made money and the hygiene of the poor improved was the management speak. I wonder what benefit the bottom of the pyramid customer derives from this product. Go nearer the bottom of the pyramid, I guess.

That's it for now. The safe_t_valve has done its job, I have let off steam.

Joseph Henry - A tribute

2010-07-05T20:09:00.001+05:30

On July 3, 2010, Wing Cmdr (Retd) Joseph Henry passed away leaving a large void in many people's lives.

How does one describe Henry, as we called him, even though we should actually have called him Joseph? A friend, philosopher, conscience keeper, one man social service organsiation, patriot, straight shooting critic of anything he found worthy of criticism and at the same time capable of large hearted, generous praise when something or someone deserved it? He was all that and more. He was someone most people would be proud to call a friend and eventually thankful that he was their friend.

When Henry joined our team, his name facinated me. What better name for an electrical engineer, I wondered.

When I met him first, his tall straight lean figure, excellent manners, wonderful smile attracted me to him right away. I thought that he looked like Omar Sheriff. I was, however, disappointed that the he did not respond warmly to my friendly overtures. He was distant and that disturbed me. I make friends easily and here was someone who was not willing. I left it at that. Later, I realised that it was a key to his personality.

I was at that time in some kind of managerial role in our team. I had no fancy title or anything. Henry, however, viewed me with suspicion or he did not want to be seen as being close to the management figure! Either way it was a key to what he was. He thawed and became a good friend later, when I no longer had that role. Then on, he was a whole hearted friend.

We spent many a coffee break together - on an average two a day. The conversation was always warm and interesting, thanks to him. He was deeply fascinated by Hindu mythology and philosophy. He was full of questions about it and trying to answer and satisfy his curiosity I learnt a lot more about it than I would otherwise have.

I said that he was a one man social service organisation. He was always at hand at occasions related to innumerable people - good, bad, sad - whatever the occasion may be. All the retired air force officers in Bangalore were practically his extended family. He would unhesitatingly go all out to help them in their hour of need. In his typical way he often referred to "vishwakutumbam" and in that spirit he was a citizen of the world.

He was a patriot in the larger sense of the word. Not the jingoistic kind. Petty regionalism elicited utter contempt from him. So did petty religious divisions and false claims of superiority because of caste and such. If he called someone a "fraaaaaud" you knew where the man stood in Henry's estimate.

He was a proud Malayalee proud of his non malayalee_ness - never wore lungis, for instance.

This is an unfulfilling attempt at describing and mourning a friend, a colleague and a good man. The last is a description that Henry richly deserved and would be truly happy and proud about.

In Appreciation of a Brave Bird

2010-06-14T09:47:00.001+05:30

I was on my usual post-prandial at 10 last night. As I passed under a tree, I got a call. I stopped on the footpath and took the call. As I did so a small owl flew from a tree branch right above me and perched atop a telephone pole. I watched it as I talked.

I was engrossed in the talk and was also watching the beautiful bird and the fascinating way it turns its head around. Suddenly, out of the blue something hit me on the head. I gave out a cry of surprise and I saw another owl fly over me and perch on an electric wire. Did I really see it glaring at me or was it only my imagination? Perhaps it was staring at me since there was no movement of the head that I so love.

I beat a fairly hasty retreat and watched the birds from a distance, feeling my practically hairless scalp. It did feel wet but no blood. Apparently it was sweat.

As I walked away driven by a bird just larger than my fist, I could do nothing but admire its courage. It had deemed it fit to attack an opponent perhaps a hundred times its own weight and had successfully driven him away.

I have walked under the same rain tree a thousand times. Never saw an owl before. Perhaps it had recently built a nest and has a clutch and was protecting it from this invader! How powerful the instinct to protect it's off spring! Or, really, was it a friendly pat on the head with an unuttered “Hello mate”? The profile picture of mine at www.penciljam.ning.com is a thumbnail picture of a painting of an owl I did some years ago. (As an aside, do go to that site to see my pencil sketches). Have the owls too become net savvy and are welcoming me to their fold? Or were they insulted that a mere human had dared to use the picture of one of their species so?

Courage is perhaps the wrong word. It is perhaps the result of the "selfishness" of the gene that drove it to attack me. I am not proverbially scratching my head in awe and wonder. Its talons have left two inch-long scratches on my bald head. I am yet to consult a doctor to find out if I need an antibiotic to prevent an infection. After all it is a bird of prey not in the habit of washing its "hands" after a meal.

Once bitten twice shy - I was once bitten on the head by a wasp. I had ignored it after the stinging pain subsided but the wound got infected.

Godly E-mails

2010-05-11T18:40:00.002+05:30

Among the many e-mail forwards one gets, there are many celebrating the greatness of god. I treat them as propaganda material. Atheists of all hues and intensities are often asked, "why don't you keep your ideas to yourself? Why do you impose your ideas on others?" But the question does not seem to apply to the mails referred above. No, I am not cribbing. I am amused and am stating a fact.

One such questioner asked the question of Richard Dawkins about his book "The God Delusion" after having bought the book and read it!

My reaction to such mails varies from quick read > delete to pointing out a fallacy in it, as gently as I can to an angry cutting retort.

The last mail I got was actually a good joke. It ran something like this. An atheist is walking in the woods and enjoying the beauty of nature. A bear attacks him and he tries to run but falls. As he is about to be bitten by the bear, he exclaims "Oh my god!". Time stands still and god appears and challenges him. "When you are in deep danger you want to cry for my help having denied my existence all the while?"

The atheist thinks a while and asks god to make the bear a Christian. Hey presto, the bear christian.

The bear starts, "Bless this food which I am about to partake..."

Now, that is very unfair of god, don't you think? He would have really known what the atheist meant. God let a christian become a man eater? Did he do that to teach a lesson to an atheist and was sure that other christians would not be watching?

This is why Richard Dawkins says, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

In this case, I replied to the mail, pointing out that someone calls him "a capriciously malevolent bully” for exactly these kinds of actions.

Now, people who know what religion I was born into may still think that I am targetting another religion. So, let me cushion that with another anecdote.

A friend of my father was invited to a "satyanaaraayana pUje". The myth around this pUje is that you do not even need an invitation to attend. If you come to know that the pUje is happening someplace you must attend. Otherwise the particular god would be angry and do unspeakable things. A part of the rituals is the telling of stories about this god who punished those who were not true to him or broke promises made to him.

When invited, the man said, "I do not want to attend the pUje and listen to the stories about that cruel, vindictive god. I will attend the lunch that follows, though, since I have no quarrels with that!" and did exactly that.

This man, to the best of my knowledge, cannot be classified an atheist. If he believes in any god at all, he expects him to be above such petty vindictiveness and cruelty. If god be like the local loan shark who wreaks havoc with a borrower that does not return a loan, why have gods at all?

Atheists Want the Pope Arrested

2010-05-09T19:11:00.004+05:30

Richard Dawkins and other atheists thinkers are trying to make one sensitised to the fact that many of us automatically defer to things religious. I have seen this phenomenon first hand, being an atheist myself. People have no qualms about making snide remarks about my world view. But people with a religious world view are handled like eggs. (That figure of speech makes me wonder if it is because they are as fragile?)

Dawkins himself talks of actions that raise our consciousness, such as the women's liberation movement.

In this direction he and another prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens have hired prominent British lawyers to move the courts to issue orders to arrest the pope when he visits England later this year. Interesting action. Even if they fail, they would have made some people think about it.

I read the original article in German. The original article can be read here.

I have attached my translation.

You may read it here

Balderdash

2010-04-28T08:18:00.004+05:30

Dhoni* says that the Dalai Lama's blessings made his team win in IPL, perhaps.

The last word in the sentence is the saving grace.

If Dalai Lama's blessings had such powers, Tibet would be free.

No, I am not making light of the Tibetans' plight.

The owner of CSK* is supposed to have invoked Vaastu and other hocus pocus, according to the papers. Dhoni says that many (all?) cricketers are superstitious and do "little things". Amazing that only one team wins! Isn't it?

One of these little things I was close to was that a classmate of mine wore the same set of clothes for all papers of engineering examinations, if he did well in the first paper. He could do that because he came by car and I went by bicycle. (I imagine that if I did any such thing, I would have got thrown out of the examination hall for being "a public nuisance" I guess.) He invariably did well in the first paper. He was placed either first or second in the University ranking and yours truly was way down below.

So, the difference between his 1st or 2nd ranks and I was a car - the late unlamented Standard Herald at that. How unfair. The fact that he studied some sixteen hours a day and I, sixteen hours a week, for the last four weeks, favoured him just a little perhaps.

* For those apologies for human beings from the large majority of nations that do not know Cricket, and who Dhoni is or what CSK is, here is something to set the scene: Dhoni is the captain of a Cricket team called Chennai Super Kings in a tournament, of a game called Cricket, called Indian Premier League (IPL)

Anand and IPL

2010-04-26T09:25:00.002+05:30

Good start for the morning. Saw that Anand has won his second game against Topalov.

I watched the streamed version of the second for a while. I thought that Anand looked confident and Topalov looked tense. I am not sure if it was wishful thinking.

I watched the IPL final too till 11. I wanted CSK to win. Someone asked me why I wanted it to win. My answer? Because Dhoni is from Ranchi. I have a soft corner for Ranchi and that is a long story.

The contrast between the game of chess and IPL finals was striking.

The glamour, glitz and the bling of IPL. The deafening noise and physical energy of all involved. The colours, the lasers and lights and the dancing girls and the endless discussions about the nuances of the game. Even the murky happenings behind the scenes appeared to be erased.

The chess? Two immobile figures. One dressed as if he is attending a board meeting and the other looking almost ridiculously informal, in a formal shirt, in contrast. The display of the board on the screen in black and white. For those who do not have a deep understanding of the game, which includes me, the affair must appear incredibly boring.

The match itself does not lack drama. An Icelandic volcano erupts. Air traffic is cut off. The defender of the title reaches the venue by road. 22 hours in a bus. Three day postponement of the start requested. One granted. Defender loses the first game against a well rested challenger playing before his home crowd. The word crowd sounds almost irreverent and inappropriate. Does "the challenger playing in front of his countrymen" or some such thing sound better?

But! Imagine the happenings in the brains of the contestants. Neurons firing. Memory being accessed. Patterns being compared. Moves being evaluated. Imagining patterns that would emerge with a certain course of the game. Steely wills. Controlling the emotions and the thought processes.

The "fireworks" in their combined brains will perhaps put to shame the wildest creations of the pyrotechnic artists.

Coming down to the results, CSK won. Anand won. I feel happy.

I hope Anand wins and retains the title.

Ten Good Reasons to Learn German

2010-04-25T17:19:00.003+05:30

I came across an article called “Zehn gute Gründe, Deutsch zu lernen” - Ten Good Reasons to Learn German, by Sebastian Sick, a columnist for the German Magazine Der Spiegel. He writes regularly about the German language. He is passionate about his mother tongue (Muttersprache). Interestingly, the Germans have a father land (Vaterland) but, a mother tongue.

I admire his passion, sense of humour and concern for the language. I wish we Kannadigas have our own Bastian Sick. Our language is sick and looks terminally ill when you look at the way it is used, misused and abused.

I have attached my translation of the article here. It is not a translation that would get me a first class in a German course or in a translation course. But, it conveys the meaning and humour at least a little bit. I hope you enjoy it.

Clerihew

2010-04-24T07:48:00.004+05:30

I won a book "The Dord the Diglot and an Avocado or Two" by Anu Garg sometime ago and finally got down to reading it seriously. I came across the word Clerihew in it and Wikipedia defines it as:

A clerihew is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The lines are comically irregular in length, and the rhymes, often contrived, are structured AABB. One of his best known is this (1905):

Sir Christopher Wren
Went to dine with some men
He said, "If anyone calls,
Say I'm designing Saint Paul's."

The sub-rule seems to be that the name of the person whose (purported) biographical work it is, appears in the first line.

So I cooked up the following Clerihew.

Mr Shashi Tharoor
Was shown the door
When he played on an unfamiliar wicket,
A game that does not sound quite cricket.

But, one more rule seems to be that it is not satirical. Perhaps mine does not qualify.

Catch 22 Inverse

2010-04-20T11:54:00.002+05:30

A friend told me that RC (Oh no, not Royal Challengers (nor Rum n' Cola), you dummy, it's Roman Catholicism) does not allow divorce.

However, (Ah! How I love that word!) if one of the partners is mad, RC allows divorce.

In that case any marriage could be declared null and void.

Isn't getting married proof enough?

Celebration Time!

2010-04-16T08:43:00.002+05:30

I wrote a short piece on British Chiropractic Association vs Dr. Simon Singh libel case. I wrote that piece being elated about the news that Simon Singh had won a case in which the judegment was that he could defend himself on the ground that what he had written was opinion and not a statement of fact.

Now the good news is that BCA has dropped its case against Simon. You may read all you want (and a lot more) here.

24 Hour Classical Music Channel

2010-04-05T08:23:00.004+05:30

Yesterday, I attended a concert, a violin - Mohana veena jugalbandi, of Mysore Manjunath and Viswamohan Bhat. This was at the 72nd Ramasevamandali concerts held in the grounds of the Fort High school Bangalore. Before the start of the concert Bhat took the microphone and started talking. I usually do not take such talks seriously and only half listen to them (Don't ask me how that is done!!!). You may call me a cynic, but such talk is usually all about how the artist "loves" the audience of Bangalore (or Mysore or Pune or Timbuktoo where you happen to be and he or she happens to be performing)

But, this speech jolted me to attention with the second sentence. Here is a transcript of it as far as I can remember it.

"Good evening. I thank you all for coming to this concert. pause.... ignoring the two hundred TV channels ..... and IPL. I wish we had at least one channel devoted to Indian classical music. Even animals have three channels. (Said with a beautifully self deprecating smile)

In this place of Sri Vijay Mallyaji, I would like say that it will cost about 0.5 percent of his expenditure on IPL and Force India to run a channel like that. So I request Sri Vijay Mallyaji to ....."

I felt like crying. Now that World Space has been shot into deep outer space, this plea sounded more poignant.

As for me, if I have a 24 hr music channel on the air I will unsubscribe from the cable and will watch the four Tennis grand slam finals in some friend's house!

Are the Mallyas of the world listening?

Kudos and Congratulations to Simon Singh

2010-04-02T08:45:00.003+05:30

The news of the day for me yesterday was "Simon Singh Wins Libel Case"

If you don't know what this is about, type the words Simon Singh libel in google and find out.

For those who are satisfied with a short report, here it is.

Simon Singh is a best selling science writer from England, of Punjabi origin. In 2008 he wrote an article in which he expressed his opinion that Chiropractics were offering a "bogus" cure for even children's ailments such as colic and childhood Asthma. The British Chiropractic Association sued him for libel. It so happens that the libel laws in England are such that it could drive the defendant insolvent.

After two years of fights in the courts and launching a movement to get the libel laws changed, he has won his case and also succeeded in getting all the major political parties to promise that they would work towards changing the libel laws in England.

He has had to stop writing and do this full time.

Bravo Simon Singh!

Paintings of Srinath Bidare

2010-03-21T14:13:00.009+05:30

Today, I went to an exhibition of paintings and charcoal sketches of Srinath Bidare.

I found his works beautiful and executed with great skill.

I have posted some of them below. I hope you like them too. Of course, the photogaphs do not do justice to the originals. Look out for this artist and see his exhibition whenever you get a chance.

The one below is a landscape painted with hair dye. This brings to mind a sepia photograph.

The next one is a landscape in acrylic colours.

The artist calls this a seascape. Also done with acrylic.

The last one is a landscape done in water colours.

You can see more about the artist here: http://www.srinathbidare.com/

Art and Science

2010-02-07T12:05:00.006+05:30

Does the following give you the feeling that someone is railing about something?

"It bugs me," Koop told the Guardian. "It's the molecular building blocks that shape these crystals and they can't form any shape other than a hexagon."

In a letter to Nature, Koop points out that the hexagonal shape of snowflakes has been known for at least 400 years when Johannes Kepler, the German astronomer, published his mini-treatise on the subject, "On the six-cornered snowflake".

"Beautiful photographs abound, including those taken by Vermont farmer Wilson A Bentley starting in 1885 ... Why then do many artists invent their own physically unrealistic snow crystals?"

Railing? Yes? No? At least, I do not think Koop was railing. It sounds like the voice of a man of reason who is troubled by bad art. 'Bad' is the operative word.

The news report published just before Christmas 2009, claims that the scientist railed. The dictionary defines railed as "complained bitterly". Well, diction is a matter of personal taste and I am ready to let go of it. But I take issue with the opening paragraphs of the report:

"The fragile truce between science and art came under strain today when common depictions of snowflakes threatened to divide the two cultures over the festive season.

In the latest salvo between the warring factions, Christmas card manufacturers, advertising agencies and children's book publishers are accused of corrupting nature with "incorrect designer versions" of snowflakes that defy the laws of physics."

Truce? Fragile? Salvo? Warring factions? Common depiction? What are we talking about?

How does this report matter to anyone and especially me? It so happens that I am passionate about science and I am passionate about art. If there was a war between them, I would be schizophrenic of sorts. But I firmly believe that I am no schizophrenic. There is no war inside my head. (Sure, most mentally ill people do not really believe that they are ill. So, you need not take my word for it!) And I see no war between the two cultures. Here is the origin of the phrase "The Two Cultures".

First, let us get one fact right. Most often, artists depict snow crystals with six corners. Frankly, I have not noticed the offending non-six pointed depictions. Of course, I do not receive many Christmas cards. When I do, what I see are six pointed snow crystals. That is neither here nor there.

Historically there have been numerous instances of collaboration of sorts between art and science. For many great scientists science was an artistic endeavour. Many of them were simultaneously artists and scientists. The biggest name of them all is, of course, Leonardo. If there was a war between the so called factions there would be debates about "Was Leonardo an artist who was also a scientist or was he a scientist who was also an artist", perhaps. I have not come across any such debate.

Science being an artistic endeavour brings to mind G H Hardy, the mathematician. He is perhaps famous in India as the man who discovered Ramanujan. Hardy was always very proud of the fact that his work was completely useless! For him, his mathematics was purely a search for beauty of numbers and their properties. Some years ago, one of Hardy's works was found to be useful in solving an esoteric problem in computing. The news paper report about it even wondered if Hardy would be turning in his grave! Art, quite often, is also completely useless. Like applied mathematics which helps people of other professions and pursuits find solutions to their problems, applied art helps people do other things, like selling a product or an idea sometimes.

A family friend who was a well travelled, brilliant biochemist once told me that in his experience he had met many really good scientists who could easily have chosen a career in music but, had chosen science.

Just for the record, I would like to list here some great scientist - artists of the world. I am sure no one will have an objection if I included creative writers in the art "faction".

The most prolific science writer of them all, Isaac Asimov, a doctorate in Bio Chemistry, was also a prolific science fiction writer.

Nearer home, you could count Jayant Narlikar in the same category.

Goethe, the greatest of German men of letters, once spent a few months in Goettingen working on a problem connected with the sun. I have no idea how good he was as a scientist but there was no war between the factions there.

Charles Darwin once regretted that once he started thinking about and writing the Origin of Species, he could no longer read novels and poetry which he had once enjoyed. This looks like a contradiction of my own claim that there is no war between the factions. We must note that Darwin said this with great regret. The war here is between the method of science and the madness (oh what beautiful madness) of art. (I must add that not all art is all madness. It needs hard work but of a different kind. For instance, Tolstoy wrote War and Peace and edited it three times. Each time, his wife made fair copy of the whole manuscript. Did these people have a different clock which ran much slower than ordinary clocks? I have postponed reading WaP to my post-retirement plans - not having enough time right now!)

Recently, Ruth Padel, Darwin's great granddaughter was in India and she writes poetry about her great great-grand-father and his life and work, among other things. No sir, no war between the two cultures there.

One of the most famous names in the visual arts and science is the German scientist-artist, Ernst Haeckel, whose pictures of plants and animals are perhaps unparalelled. You will perhaps never know if it was an artistic endeavour or a scientific endeavour for him.

A maverick of sorts and one of the legendary scientists of the modern era, Richard Feynman, learnt to play drums and while trying to teach some science to an artist ended up learning enough art to make some very good looking pictures.

Nearer home again, Kuvempu was very well read in science for laymen and had a lifelong interest in it. (He was instrumental in influencing my father to read popular science books and also take up science writing) Pu Ti Na, another great Kannada poet had an abiding interest in science and you can discern that in some of his poems too.

Is a naturalist a scientist? If yes, Audubon, perhaps, is known more as a painter of nature (See paintings here) was an avid nature lover and observer and painted it too. (The American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservancy is known as the Audubon society)

Perhaps the greatest name in science, Einstein, himself was a violinist of some accomplishment. I have always wondered how good he was as a violinist. Because he is a legend, his violin playing abilities could be the stuff of legend. But there is this story about how Einstein was concerned that an unknown young stranger next to him said that he did not understand music and took the trouble to give the young man a crash course in music listening shows that there is no war there!

Homi J Bhabha, one of India's greatest scientists, considered to be the father of India's atomic energy programme, was a trained pianist and a painter. Once, he painted a portrait of C V Raman and presented it to Raman. Raman was admiring it when Bhabha said, "That is the portrait of a great scientist by an artist". Raman retorted, "No, it is the portrait of an artist by another artist". Both took their art seriously and were proud of being artists! Raman conducted considerable research on the vibration of the membranes of percussion instruments. The interest in the topic was born more out of artistic interests than scientific interests, is my guess. Raman's wife was a well trained Veena player and Raman was very (inordinately?) proud of that fact.

If you make certain changes in the quoted passage about which I have 'railed' here, and replaced the word art with religion, it might make a lot more sense. That, of course, will also be contentious!

Yes Sir, art and science appear to be two divergent cultures. But at the heart of both is a search for truth and beauty. Their methods are different, means are different. But, NO SIR, there is no war between them and no salvos.

What Koop is "railing" at is not art but BAD art. He would rail equally, if not more, vehemently against bad science or non-science (sounds very close to nonsense, does it not?) and non-science trying to pass itself off as science, I am sure. I am certain that any self respecting artist who looked at five cornered and eight cornered (pentagonal and octagonal, Ahem!) snow crystals would be riled and would rail at it. Not at art per se.

Let me end with a piece of news that caught my attention recently. The latest Indian (born) Nobel Prize winner dashed to India recently to attend his son's Cello concert. Father and son at loggerheads and in opposite camps? No sir.

No Sir, there is and was no war, no truce, no salvos. Dare I say it? The report under discussion is as bad a piece of journalism as a piece of art depicting five cornered snow crystal?

Republic Day Musings

2010-01-26T18:58:00.004+05:30

Every Republic Day has a certain things in common - watch the RD parade for a while on TV, watch "Gandhi", the movie, on some channel or the other, look at the list of Padma award winners and crib. This year, the crib started a day before RD because a friend called and asked if Romulus Whitaker has got any padma award. The answer unfortunately is no.

Awards are given to many deserving people, for sure. However the lapses - those of commission and of omission - are points for discussion and cribbing. This year, I was really happy to see the name of - Sheldon Pollock a very deserving recipient indeed. He is scholar of classical studies who is passionate about classical studies in India. My introduction to his name was fairly recent - through a very interesting article by him in The Hindu. There are of course people like Arundhati Nag who richly deserve it too.

The name in this year’s list that amused me was that of Resul Pookutty. I do not have an opinion on whether he deserves it or not. But, I do believe that he got the award because he got the Oscar. If not his existence itself would not even be known to the powers that be who decide on such matters is my guess. This comment does not take anything away from Resul I hope.

My problem is more with the names such as Aamir Khan and Sehwag. I am an admirer of Aamir Khan in general. His movies are good and he seems to be a good human being with social concerns and has done his bit about them. But does someone who promotes coloured aerated water deserve such an award, is my question. I know at least a few people who believe that he does not. If that is the case, one can imagine Indra Nooyi getting a Padma Vibhushan was just too much to swallow! I have already written about that here.

Now, coming to the other question - about Rom Whitaker; He has done more for Indian snakes and Gharials than anyone else. He richly deserves far more recognition than he has got. Or do environment and ecology not deserve such concern? When thinking about Rom, I could not help thinking of Valmik Thapar, Fateh Singh Rathore and Ullas Karanth. These naturalists, to find a common name, deserve the award, even perhaps more than some who have got it this year and before!

Giving them an award like that will serve an important purpose other than recognising their work and contributions. The matters are at least forced on the consciousness of people at large and hopefully something good will happen for the besieged environment.

I only hope that one day soon the actors against whom there are prima facie cases of killing black bucks!

Obama and Nobel

2009-10-10T12:55:00.005+05:30

Let me be blunt. I felt let down by the Nobel Committee that decides on the prize for peace.

Let me make it clear. I am an admirer of Obama. Then why the feeling of having been let down?

When a colleague hurried to my desk to announce that Obama got the Nobel Prize for peace, my first reaction was, "It must be a hoax". He insisted that he had seen it on a reliable news channel. Until I saw it on the Official Nobel Website I did not believe it.

I talked to colleagues and friends at random and the reactions were uniform - "What?", "What for?", "Rigged?", "Nothing is reliable any more" . .

I told a friend, we will read the reports and the citation and then decide. The citation on the Nobel website reads " . . . for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". Not too bad.

I thought about the whole thing and realised that most of the previous laureates had a life time of achievement behind them before they were honoured. Many had contributed significantly for a number of years before they were awarded. The Fact that Obama gets the prize when he has not really been in the international scene for more than a year seems to be the reason for the disbelief and all the other emotions.

I recalled another fact now almost forgotten that the will of Alfred Nobel reads as follows.

"The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. . . "

The words in bold italics above (both mine) has been a problem for the Nobel committee and has been flouted than followed. The greatest scientific discovery of the preceding year would not have been peer reviewed, replicated and tested enough for the prize to be awarded this year. Hence someone like S Chandrasekhar gets a prize five decades (?) after his discovery. (Well, that is a long story but, good enough for the present purposes) Because of this, we are used to seeing prizes being awarded to recognise and honour life time achievements.

Suddenly, the Nobel committee decides to stick to the clause in bold italics and we feel let down.

Nobel peace prizes often seem "political" in the sense that the committee is trying to promote a movement or a line of thought. Quite often, anti-communist writers and activists have been honoured and most common people had not heard of them. Al Gore's is another case in point. In this case too, by awarding the prize to Obama, the Nobel committee seems to be saying - "What this man is doing is good" and quite often a Nobel laureate has an invisible aura that may help "him" in doing what he wants to do.

With all these things in mind, do I still feel disappointed/let down? No. Not as much as when I heard it first.

I am still thinking . . .

Loves Labours Lost

2009-09-27T18:26:00.003+05:30

I received an SMS as follows: ninu + nanu + cenma + yavaga + pls + tell + me (you + I + movie + when + please + tell + me. I swear, Cinema was spelt so!)

I replied: ninu + nanu + cenma = DISASTER! Now the equation is balanced! May I know who you are?

An hour later, I got a call from the same number. I put on my deepest and gruffest voice and said "HELLO"

Line was cut.

Some poor lovelorn soul, must be deeply disappointed.

Nuanced Speech

2009-09-26T18:13:00.009+05:30

I wanted to explore the language of the present day youth. The 'Y' generation. (Is that the shorter version of "Why is this generation like this?"). I had an idea about a post on nuanced speech. I decided to merge the two. Bad idea? Let us see.

OK. I'll tell you one story OK? (Where have all the indefinite articles signifying a quantity of one gone? They seem to have completely disappeared now a days, I mean, now one days.) I had gone to buy coffee powder and come OK? Sudden rain. Jumped into one shop OK? OK. Neat and clean and all. Standing standing suddenly, I started saying Chihuahua and by the time I wondered when to stop, dogs all around me. Raining cats and dogs they say no? That day only dogsOK? I am thinking, where they are coming from and oh s*** I remember. Below shop no? A vet shopOK? Rain means all dog owners and their best friends in the med shop. Then I see, shop full of doggy things. Oh! OK, now I know.

Standing there, I see two beautiful dogs OK? Same type both. Really really cute OK? Wondering what breed it is. Finally asked the dude catching one dog. (This is the Kannada to English translation that you hear very often. In kannaDa the verb hiDi means both hold and catch. As a noun, it means handle) What breed? I ask him OK? Bugger looks one type and casual like, "it is an Indian breed" he says. You know, like only he knows dogsOK? OK, bugger, I look seriously and tell, "It's like, I think it is Rajapalyam. That's why I ask". Thud, he comes down OK? Stupid grin he tells, “yaa, their father IS a Rajapalyam”. Awww bugger we also know dogs OK?

Well, even if you are not sick of it, I am. This really really ooooooops, .. This really happened to me. He did have the look that said, "Who knows about Rajapalyams other than the cognoscenti?" Subscript - like us. I like dogs, from a distance, preferably in books. I can recognize a few breeds and am fascinated by them. Once, in Germany, I ran away from the table in an open air restaurant. My companion was really scared that he has to pick up the tab for my beer too! I ran and talked to a girl with a really tiny dog on a leash. Learnt of a new (to me, that is) breed. It is called a Reh Pinscher. Reh means a doe in German. This breed was bred to be small, run after deer and bite them and hang on to them, to be hunted down easily by the hunter. Cruel! But, interesting. I swear! The fact that the girl was pretty had nothing to do with it!

I will now continue in "normal" English.

I was waiting at the "parcel" counter of a restaurant. (Take away or "to go" counter for those who do not know this very Kannada (south Indian?) term) I had a fairly long list of things to be packed. A young lady came to the counter and handed her order in. She then went out to talk to someone. Returned in a few minutes and asked the man at the counter if her order was ready. He said that it would take more time. She talked a little further to him in a friendly way that is unusual. She was obviously in a hurry and hence I apologised to her for my long list that was making her wait. Then to compensate for it, I complimented her on the easy friendly way she talked to the guy at the counter. She thanked me for it and said "I learnt it from my hubby". Must be an unusual man, that truncated husband. Not only does his wife learns something from him but is also ready to even acknowledge it!

See what I mean? She was telling me in no uncertain terms. "Look old man, do not get ideas, just because I talk freely! I am already married and am close to my (truncated) husband." She must have wondered if she was too touchy. She complimented me that it was a good idea of mine to bring a book along and read it while waiting for my order to be filled.

See what I mean by nuanced speech?

Message in a Bottle on the High Seas

2009-09-19T17:14:00.005+05:30

I have had some success looking for long lost (to me, that is) friends through my blog. Let me try once more.

Look at the guys in the picture. In the middle is yours truly. The other two are Solomon Mechessa and Alemayehu Mechessa. Unfortunately I do not remember who is who! It is no wonder that I do remember their names. They sound so musical. They are such nice people and friends. The place is IIT Kharagpur and in particular the quadrangle of the Vidya Sagar Hall (VS Hall), Ca 1986.

These two were gentle gentlemen and cousins. They used to be quite isolated. Very few of the hostel-mates talked to them and I was the exception. We became good friends. Before I left Kgp, they gave me a lunch - authentic Ethiopian style. They were good cooks. Ethiopian cuisine is very close to South Indian food is what I remember other than the fact that it was a very good lunch. In the company of two very nice people.

I was never a good correspondent in the days of snail mail and am a much better one in the electronic era. Of course, I am not perfect but, I am a far better one. Else, I would not have lost touch with these two friends.

I searched for Alemayehu on the net and did find one - Dr. Alemayehu Mechessa. I tried to contact him through an international organisation that he is associated with but with no success. I hope, I am more successful here.

Dear Alemayehu, dear Solomon, I have forgotten which name matches which face in the picture, but I remember you clearly and with affection. Do contact me if and when you see this blog.

One more Ethiopian friend from VS Hall was one Ebenet. I do not know his second name. I just put it here increase the chances of this post being hit in a random search and getting to contact the Mechessas.

Sketch

2009-09-19T16:05:00.005+05:30

Some time ago I wrote about Julia Lermontova here.

I made a paper and pencil sketch of her portrait and here it is.

Wow

2009-09-18T19:53:00.003+05:30

My my! Must be some man, to be on such pally terms with none other than . .

Sorry bad picture, from my seven year old mobile.

AWAD and Award

2009-09-15T18:26:00.008+05:30

If a blog is not (also) about bragging, what is it?

So let me brag.

It is not really a brag, actually, but a means of sharing a small win.

I subscribe to and read a e-mail newsletter called "A Word A Day" from "Wordsmith" Anu Garg.

The e-mail introduces or re-introduces you to (or vice versa) a new word and gives you the meaning, pronunciation, etymology, related words and usage. This is done 5 times a week. It is pure fun. I am a logophile.

Usually the words that come to you in a week share a theme. Last week, the theme was "you find the theme". That means, the theme was concealed and the readers were challenged to find it based on the week`s words.

And the rest is here in Wordsmith's words.

****************

Last week's Discover the Theme contest challenged readers to identify the common thread among the five words featured: odious, asinine, cagey, arcadian, and devious. Several readers believed that these are all words that describe their ex-boy/girlfriend or ex-husband/wife.

About 1200 readers took up the challenge of whom about 150 sent the correct answer: All of these words can be pronounced as a sequence of letters and numbers: ODS, SN9 (or AC9, SE9), RKDN, KG, and DVS.

I'd feared that this puzzle might prove too difficult compared to the previous ones, but never underestimate the ability of a thousand brains working on a problem. The first person to send the correct answer was J L Anil Kumar of Bangalore, India, who sent me the solution within minutes of the first word going out on Monday. He wins a signed copy of the book A Word A Day.

A second winner, randomly selected from all who sent correct answers, is Ada Payne of Delaware, Ohio, who opted to receive a signed copy of The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two as her prize.

********************

You can see more of all this here.

So, I am eagerly looking forward to the book now.

Oh! Thank you, thank you. . . . . . . .

My own reckoning is that this challenge is easier for a "South Indian" like me and hence I had an unfair(?) advantage The reason is that most Indian languages, more so the SI ones, have no serious concept of a pause, except when we run out of breath. When pronouncing O-D-S we are most likely to say "oodeeyus". Others: "oh pause dee pause es". The pauses may be micro (even nano as per the latest craze) pauses. But they make a difference. Folk or amateur phonetics? Perhaps.

Dear Anonymous

2009-08-19T20:21:00.004+05:30

Dear Anonymous,

You say, “Your comment doesn't make any sense!”

I made that comment only because it made sense to me in two different ways. Let me try to explain.

When you try to sell an idea to someone, your chances of selling are better if you answer a question, the acronym of which is WIIFM. It means “What’s in it For Me?” So, the slogan as modified by me, attempts to answer that question for the reader. It is contended that vegetarian food is easy on you So, when you “Go Veg” you are being kind to yourself first!

At another level I am trying to remind the reader that the reader himself is an animal too. The first comment on the same post correctly but cryptically says, “One should see that the differences between us are not of kind but of degree”

Then you say “It is a 'slogan' and you cannot have a slogan like the one you have written....” I cannot really reply to this one as I find that it is a decent enough slogan. But perhaps we are in the sphere of personal opinion and individual taste and hence perhaps we should leave it alone.

Then you say, “Of course, who is not kind to oneself?” Well, if you look around you will find many and in this case meat eaters!! At least that is what is implied by it.

Then you say parenthetically, “(except someone like you who torture himself/herself trying to find 'mistakes'(!) in some totally trivial matters such as the one that you have posted....” In this case you are really mistaken, let me assure you. I was having great fun while doing it. I was NOT trying to find a mistake. Actually the slogan is good and correct. I was only playing, for pleasure, let me assure you, with words. Vegetarianism is not a trivial matter, at least for the animal that is slaughtered and consumed. It is. quite literally, a matter of life and death for it! Don’t you think so?

You say “It appears that you have a whole lot of free time and not much to ponder in life....”

You are at your “wrongest” here.

As a family man, I ride a bike to run errands required to be run to run a family. How does one occupy one’s mind at such times? It is at such times that these interesting snippets catch my eye and my mind processes it for fun. I hope that it amuses some others too and distracts them from the cares of the world but alas, sometimes it irritates someone.

You seem to be an angry (sure) young (?) person. I have a hunch that you reacted like this to one of my earlier posts too. In any case, anger, contempt, jealousy, hate are emotions that hurt the source more than the target. I hope, you learn to control this (and other such emotions) for your own good, happy and long life. I wish you the best.

You may skip the following part as it is only the result of “stock taking”, triggered by your comment. I ran through what I do and have done in my 54 eventful, rollicking years of my life and put them together. In spite of all this I do have some spare time and waste it on watching TV! You may feel I am bragging. Perish the thought! I know of a guy who made a list of 124 things he wanted to do and did all of them, I know a guy who knows 8 or so European languages well enough to professionally do translations. Each of those is a short cut to an inferiority complex. No, I do not brag.
I work 9 hrs in an office, commute to work - about 1:45 Hrs in toto, during which time I read German articles, mostly Sci + Tech, in the process I have taught myself German Language, I meditate (TM), I play the Veena (Carnatic Classical), I sketch (during my first cuppa coffee), I also prepare my own breakfast with bread, iron my own clothes, write mails to friends and sometimes chat and sleep for eight hours too! That is a normal day. Then on abnormal days, I do Su Do Ku, the Hindu Crossword, paint, photography, blog (and bug some unintentionally)

In the past I have translated two books, (one is likely to see the light of day in December), ran a half marathon after about a year of training, acted in two plays in Kannada - both major roles - one as Basavanna in Karnad’s “Tale Danda”, have painted in oils, (sketching, oils, water colours and German, all self-taught, for all practical purposes), I have learnt to read Bangla, Tamizh and Malayalam and promptly forgotten the last one, I have sung in a group and given a performance, participated in quizzes and debates and lecture competitions and impromptu speech competitions and won prizes too, edited an in-house magazine of a factory where I worked, written poetry (that nobody else has read and hence one has to take my word for it), translated poetry of Kaifi Azmi (on my blog), cycled from Mysore to Bangalore (long ago) read many books (from absolute trash including M&B to Shakespeare), a BE and an M Tech, Designed a couple of award winning power electronic equipment. . . . .,

I am unhappy, when I have to time to be so, that I have not done mountain/rock climbing, pottery, clay modelling, sculpting, trekking. fly an aircraft, run a company, driven an auto for a day picking fares in Bangalore, driven a bus, a truck, run a restaurant, sail, walked down from Talakaveri to the estuary of Kaveri, swum the English channel (Don’t laugh, why be stingy in dreaming?), travel by the Chunnel, act in a movie. . .,

I will do some of them, sooner or later.

Curiouser and Curiouser

2009-08-11T20:38:00.005+05:30

After I wrote the post on the Tale of Two Statues (in Two Cities) I was looking for further information about the fate of the sculptors.

I found that the old sculptor did attend the function but was ignored.

What was heartening was the report in The Hindu about the arrangements the Tamil Nadu government has made to get the sculptor of the Sarvajna statue to be present at the function in Madras.

But the Curiouser and Curiouser of the title is because the Hindu report says that the sculptor is Pramodhini Deshpande. (In the report, the name of the town near Mysore is spelt as it is spelt officially - Yelwal).

Now who is the actual sculptor then? Ms Deshpande or Ms Acharya?

I have always had a (grudging?) admiration for the Tamil people because they generally do things well and neatly. (For proof, of sorts, experience the roads in the two states, for instance). Even in this instance, they have shown how to do things well - as can be read in the Hindu article.

Here are some more links on the subject: 1 2 3

The answer given by one of the persons responsible for the function is ludicrous, to say the least.

Decide for yourself.

Vegetarianism

2009-08-09T13:05:00.002+05:30

Slogan on the back of a car.

Be kind to animals. Go Veg

Shouldn't it read:

Be kind to yourself and other animals. Go Veg

2009-08-09T12:59:00.001+05:30

Here is what I saw on the screen by chance

Maintenance Mode

Hindu Wisdom is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance. Please try back in 60 minutes.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Artists of the World Unite

2009-08-09T10:31:00.007+05:30

Artists of the world unite.
You have nothing to lose but your anonymity!

This is the call I would like to give to artists, especially sculptors.

The trigger for this post, even though I have had this complaint for a long time, is the unveiling the statue of Thiruvalluvar in Bangalore and the planned unveiling of the statue of Sarvajna. in Chennai. The names of the artists who sculpted the two statues are hardly ever mentioned anywhere. Surprisingly, to me at least, Times of India did mention one of them - Ms Vimala Acharya of Ilavala, near Mysore, who created the statue of Sarvajna. (The TOI news report called her an artisan and spelt the name of the place as Illvala. Why is she an artisan and not an artist and there is nothing ill about Ill_vala!). Deccan Herald wrote about Sri Mani Nagappa, who was afraid that he would not live to see the statue being unveiled.

There are literally millions of pieces of sculpture and not a single artist is known - from historical times to today. This, I feel, is a result of the feudalistic attitudes which remain even today. The "king" who funded the project is remembered and the sculptor, artist, architect who created remains forever anonymous.

So here is an open letter to Sudhakar Rao, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka, in whose name the announcement of today's unveiling of the statue of Thiruvalluvar is made in the papers.

Dear Mr. Rao,

I would like to congratulate the Government of Karnataka on finally unveiling the statue of Thiruvalluvar. But here are some questions.

Was the sculptor, Sri Mani Nagappa invited to the function?

Was he paid for the trip, and also to some companion as the gentleman is 83 years old?

Was he on the dais and was he honoured?

I am sure there will be a plaque about the function somewhere on the pedestal of the statue or near it. Does the plaque carry the name of Sri Mani Nagappa as the sculptor of the statue?

Have you made sure that similar arrangements are made for Ms Vimala Acharya for the unveiling of the statue of Sarvajna, with the government of Tamil Nadu?

If the answers to any of these questions is no, will you make amends in any form?

With best regards,

Anil

I dream of a day when the artists get the recognition that is their due.

PS. I have no axe to grind - I myself am no artist.

Eclipse

2009-07-22T10:08:00.004+05:30

It was 1979 and there was to be a total solar eclipse visible in Eastern India. I was at that time in Ranchi where the eclipse was about 90+ percent or so. All I had to do to watch the total eclipse was to go to Konark. But, a big but, the company I worked for was in doldrums and I had not received my salary for nearly three months. I had no money to undertake the journey.

I, however, had great fun. I had a cook, Munna, who knew no English. I was a recent immigrant to the "North" and when I had landed in Ranchi in December 1978, that is, a few months before the eclipse, I knew not a single word of spoken Hindi. I had however picked up enough Hindi in the intervening month and a half to lecture Munna about the phenomenon of eclipses. With a candle, a lemon and an orange I explained the phenomenon to him and convinced him about the harmlessness of the eclipses. So much so that on that great day there were only two people in the whole of Ranchi who witnessed the eclipse. Munna and yours truly.

However, Munna was not able to enjoy the whole thing because he decided to visit a doctor and family during the eclipse. He had earlier worked for the doctor and still maintained contact with the family. After seeing part of the eclipse, he strode out to the doctor's house with his new found confidence, all alone in the deserted streets of Ranchi. When he knocked on the door, someone from inside called out. "Who is there?". Munna announced himself. A door opened and a disembodied hand pulled him inside and the door was closed. He was soundly chastised for having ventured out during the eclipse and that was the end of his watching the eclipse.

This is how, I have been about the superstitions surrounding eclipses for a major part of my 54+ years. I have watched all eclipses that I could, eaten during that time and have lived to tell the tale, so to say.

However my confidence in the harmlessness of eclipses has been shaken in recent times.

Come eclipse and normally rational, intelligent and educated people go nuts. Cause and effect. Eclipses drive people crazy. Eclipses are harmful. QED! They tell you that there are negative vibrations (of what please!?) - a favourite word of the pseudo scientific. Food can go bad easily because of the reduced light - have these people forgotten the phenomenon of nights?

Now with the advent of TV, instead of rationality spreading, irrationality is spreading at the time of Eclipses. Today there was a Dr. something or the other Kapur, a lady, on one of the channels, who claimed to be an opthamologist and she was mouthing such utter nonsense and unmitigated rubbish about the harmful Infra red rays and negative vibrations and what not that my blood pressure rose and my peptic ulcer acted up and I had to reach for my antacid and meditate to calm myself.

I tried to call the channel, which helpfully gave a couple of phone numbers, to ask them to throw that self styled expert out of the window - hoping that their studio was in a high enough place. But no, the lines were perpetually busy. Before I could get my call through, the show ended. Now I wonder if the eclipse affected my ability get the line? What?

Do you still have any doubts that eclipses are harmful? If you have, the eclipse has affected your irrationality and there is no hope for you......

Passage

2009-07-21T10:17:00.003+05:30

Indian music has lost two great singers within a short time. Names that are iconic.

D K Pattammal and Gangubai Hangal.

They had so many things in common. They were both musicians of the highest calibre. Their concerts were always good or more never a lacklustre performance. Both had to break tradition. DKP because she was Brahmin and Hangal, because she was not from the upper castes. Both had voices that could be called masculine or at least low pitched for women singers. Both were highly classical and traditional in approach but at the same time innovative and forged their distinctive styles. Both were utterly amazing persons.

What loss.

Here are some memories I have of these greats.

DKP gave a lecture demonstration in the College of Fine Arts of the Mysore University. She was accompanied on the Mridangam by her son Shivakumar. She sang one of her popular songs, "naanoru vilaiyaattu bommaya?" (Am I a toy?). While she sang a particularly moving passage of the song, in which the poet challenges the Goddess Jagannaayaki - "Do you enjoy hearing me cry - amma... amma...?". Her son's presence and the moving passage moved her so much that she cried.

Gangubai was once honoured in Mysore. She was asked to speak and she hesitantly did. She said, "I am a singer. Music is my language. But, still, you have hounoured me and to refuse to talk would be churlish." She went on to recount that the previous day, she had sung in the temple at Nanjangud and after some time the audience requested her to sing something light. She said, "I only sing Khyal. I know nothing else. The only light I know is" she pointed to the electric lights hanging above, "are these!". That actually defines her music. Serious and deep and weighty - not as a burden but as opposed to light or light hearted.

When she was hounoured, various local organisations wanted to honour her too and she was garlanded in the name of many of those. One of them was the local association of her community. She chastised them gently. I am a musician. I have no caste or community. But these people keep reminding me of my caste. It was not bitterness, it was not annoyance. It was just a wish that it were not so.

After her little speech, she sang for a few hours. She was such a small fragile lady. But when she sat down and sang she grew to something huge. That was the impression she created with the power of her singing.

Great women, great singers. Gone for ever. I can only feel lucky that I had the opportunity to listen to them.

Glimmer

2009-07-18T09:03:00.003+05:30

I received a forwarded mail from a friend and I have reproduced the contents here in full, after getting the permission of the original mailer.

******************

When I narrated the incident below to a close friend over lunch earlier this week, he suggested that I should pen this down in an email and circulate it to as many friends in Bangalore as possible. So here goes an interesting experience of interacting with an IPS officer, who made me see a Glimmer of Hope, amidst the corruption that encompasses so many of our public services.

It was Friday 5th June, at about 3 pm, I drove my Ford Ikon car into 80 feet road at Indiranagar in Bangalore ; wanting to reach on time for my 3.30 pm meeting with a client. As I entered the wide road I saw a posse of Traffic Constables who stopped my car on the side and asked me to produce my car documents to the Traffic Sub Inspector (SI) who was standing on the footpath. I walked up to the SI and displayed my Driving License, to which he told me to bring my Car Insurance certificate and also my Emission Certificate for the car. I walked back to my car and realized that I had not carried either of the documents in my car and was cursing myself for such a slip.

I came back to the SI and told him that I did not have my document and what was to be done.

The SI had a half smile & told me that the fine for not carrying both these documents was Rs. 600/- however I could pay him Rs. 300/-. I removed my wallet and told the SI that I would pay the amount and want a receipt for the same, to which he suddenly grew stern and told me that in which case the fine was Rs. 1,100/-.

I paid the fine of Rs 1,100/- and took the receipt, wondering why the fine had suddenly escalated just because I wanted a receipt instead of paying the Rs. 300 bribe which the SI had asked.

After my client meeting as I was driving back, I was annoyed at myself for not carrying the documents and I was angry that at an officer at an SI level was blatantly seeking a bribe.

I decided that I should do something about it as soon as I reached my Home Office. I logged on to the net and found out that the Traffic Police of Bangalore has a website, which gives details of the fines chargeable. It also provides for logging complaints and gave the email ids of the Asst Commissioner of Police for the traffic division. At about 7 pm that evening I wrote an email to the email id of the ACP, narrating the incident of the afternoon and lodging a formal complaint in the email. I also found out the website of Lok Ayukta of Karnataka and marked a CC of the same email to the email ids given on the Lok Ayukta's website.

By about 7.30 pm I had done the needful, and I was happy with myself that what I preach in my Leadership Workshops with respect to Values, I had practiced to a large extent – by paying the fine instead of paying the bribe and reporting the bribe demand to the best of my ability.

I thought the chapter ended there, little realizing that I would be having an indeed amazing and pleasant experience on this whole incident in the hours & days to come.

On Saturday 7th June (the next day) at about 2 pm, I logged into my Home Office. I checked my email and lo behold, I had 3 emails sent to me by the ACP to who I had written the complaint email the previous day.

The first one informed me that I had done the right thing by paying the fine and not the bribe. The second email asked to give my complaint in writing and fax it to the ACP, so that action can be taken on the SI. And the 3rd email asked me to give the ACP a call on his office no or his cell no, so that he could accelerate the action to be taken on the erring SI. I promptly put my complaint in a letter and sent a scanned copy through the email to the ACP.

On Sunday, 8th June in the morning I checked my email and I had an email from the ACP stating that the erring SI had been suspended from services. It also said that I must give the ACP a call to work out the next formalities. I called the ACP (till now I did not know the name of this ACP) who answered my call on the Sunday. During my phone conversation he introduced himself as ACP Pravin Sood, and thanked me for doing what I did with respect to not paying the bribe and also escalating the matter in writing. He explained that many Bangalore citizens escalate such cases to him but then back down when asked to give the complaint in writing. He apologized to me.

Yes. He said "I am sorry for what you faced with this SI who harassed you, because he did not have any business stopping your to check your documents if you had not done any traffic violation". He invited me over to Tea to his office at a time convenient to me. After I kept the phone down, I could not believe that here was a case where within 48 hours of an incident of seeking bribe, the erring office was suspended.

I decided that I must meet in person ACP Pravin Sood, speaking with whom for 10 minutes had changed a few paradigms in my mind about Public Services Officers. Since I was travelling the next few days, I sought time with him on 15th June at 4.30 pm at his office. I reached ACP Sood's office a little early (at 4.10 pm) and was pleasantly surprised when I was ushered into his office at 4.15 pm, he asked me to sit as he was completing a meeting with another delegation. At sharp 4.30 pm he ended his previous meeting and turned to me and spent the next 20 minutes discussing with me several aspects of Traffic Policing in Bangalore . He offered me a cup of tea (Many corporate clients I visit do not see me on time and do not ask me for a cup of tea, so what ACP Sood was doing was indeed better than many corporate folks I have met…!).

Right through the conversation, he was courteous, frank and completely articulate on his thoughts and ideas.

He reiterated that there would be no repercussions on me for giving the complaint in writing. And that I may have to make one appearance in person when the internal enquiry is done. He also offered that instead of me having to come to the Police headquarters to give the statement, he could send one of his officers to my residence to take my statement if I so wish.

When I was leaving ACP Sood's office, I told him "Over the years, many of my friends and cousins have urged me to migrate and settle in one of the western countries, but I have consciously chosen to stay back in India by my choice. When I have interactions like the one I had with you ACP Sood, I am happy that I made the choice to stay back in India ". It was an impromptu comment, straight from my heart to which ACP Sood just smiled and shook my hand.

When I was walking out of ACP Sood's office, I felt reassured that if we have officers like ACP Pravin Sood in our country, there is a Glimmer of Hope, against corruption - provided, we as citizens have the courage to say NO to Bribes and have the inclination to report cases of Bribe.

I am no major RTI or Social activist, yet I found all the info I needed on the web, sitting in my Home Office…

Change begins with me.

I can make a difference.

Regards,

Shabbir Merchant
***********************

National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore

2009-06-27T16:22:00.011+05:30

A few weeks ago, a friend told me about this new National Gallery of Modern Art in Bangalore. It was inaugurated in February 2009 and I had completely missed the news about it. So, I visited the place today and had a great time. All the greats of the Indian art world are represented here and I could see the originals. Tagore (Rabindranath), Tagore (Abanindranath), Anjolie Ela Menon, Amrita Sher Gil, S G Vasudev, K K Hebbar, Yusuf Arakkal, K C S Paniker, M F Husain, Ramkinkar Baij, Nand Lal Bose, Jamini Roy, P T Reddy, Ravi Varma are all there. Of course there are more, either their names are not familiar to me or I do not recall some of them at the moment.

I have heard many people say that they do not understand "Modern Art." What they mean, often, is that they do not understand "abstract" art. If you are one of them, do not make the mistake of dismissing this Gallery of Modern Art. There are many "realistic" paintings - or should I say non-abstract? If you are reasonably interested in art, you should visit this beautiful gallery.

Even if you do not "like" the paintings, I am sure you enjoy the architecture. It is an old royal residential building converted to a museum. Manikyavelu Manisons.

A modern wing has been added with completely contemporary architecture that does not stick out like a sore thumb. See below a picture of the open staircase in the modern wing. (The greenish tinge to the picture is thanks to the trees all around it!

I was given permission to take a single picture of one of the rooms to add to my post. (See below) The pictures on either side of the window are very good indeed.

If you want to know where this gallery is, DO NOT LOOK for it in the maps on the internet. You get five different locations and of course four of them are wrong!

The best I can do is - it is on the road between Mt Carmel College and Chalukya Hotel, called Palace Road. The full address is NGMA, 49, Palace Road, Bangalore, 560052. Ph: 22201027

The exhibits keep changing with paintings "borrowed" from the NGMA Delhi. Keep an eye open for the announcements in the papers.

There are displays that give some information on the artists, schools of art and such, which are very educative.

On the whole, a great experience. It is sad though, that there are not many visitors to this gallery. I was there for more than two hours (not sufficient, actually, and plan to visit again soon) and saw only two other visitors.

After all the good words, there are some comments. I will be sending the this post's link to NGMA and I hope they take it as a feedback and act on it. Based on my brief interaction with the staff there, I am almost certain that they will.

The floor of the gallery may deserve better maintenance. Viewing some exhibits is hampered by the lighting. Let me give a specific example. When you stand in front of one of the Anjolie Ela Menon paintings, a light meant for a painting on the other side of the wall is directly in your eye. This one is a very beautiful painting of a mother and her two children. Some of the name boards may have typographical errors, Thrashing instead of Threshing, for instance, next to one of Ramkinkar Baij's paintings. These comments are only to make an excellent place better.

Cola Anyone?

2009-05-21T21:20:00.004+05:30

A friend sent me the following joke.

A salesman of a Cola company returns from his Middle East assignment.
A friend asked, "Why weren't you successful with the Arabs?"
The salesman explained, "When I got posted in the Middle East, I was very confident that I would do well as Cola is virtually unknown there. But, I had a problem. I don't know Arabic. So, I planned to convey the message through three posters...
First poster: A man lying in the hot desert sand...totally exhausted.
Second poster: The man is drinking our Cola.
Third poster: The man is now totally refreshed.
And then these posters were pasted all over the place.
"It should have worked!" said the friend.
"The hell it should have!” said the salesman. I didn't realize that Arabs read from right to left"

I commented that the salesman had told the truth, inadvertently!

I came across this article a few days ago.

Here is the gist of the article.

Colas have never been known as being healthy. Cola consumption leads to caries, bone loss, diabetes and problems with metabolism. But the evidence is building that excessive consumption of cola can lead to Hypokalemia - low levels of Potassium in the blood - which can cause life-threatening muscle paralysis, says Moses Elisaf, an intern at the University in Greece’s Ioannina.

Cases of excessive cola consumption are not isolated. The per capita cola consumption in the US is a whopping 212 liters.

Here is some more in English.

Who is Taking Whom for a Ride?

2009-05-17T19:36:00.006+05:30

I am a bit of a board reader. Mark the spelling. It is b-o-a-r-d, not b-o-r-e-d.

I have been an Indian Oil customer for a long time. I have no idea why. I always look for an Indian Oil bunk to buy petrol.

Recently, the advertisement boards in the regular Indian Oil bunk that I go to caught my eye, especially, the parts of the advertisement boards in kannaDa, or at least, what is supposed to be kannaDa.

Look at these pictures. When did for (ಫಾರ್) become kannaDa? One particular word ichidana (ಇಚಿದನ) was perplexing. That is a word that I had not come across. Kittel was consulted. The revered Reverend did not know it either. Then the bulb went on. The word is indhana - (ಇಂಧನ) - fuel!

Now who is the culprit here? The advertising agency? The translator the ad agency hired to get the English copy into kannaDa? The man who composed it on a computer for printing? On the whole, IOCL has been taken for a ride. What is the use of an advertisement if no one understands it? More so, no one CAN understand it.

Should I have second thoughts about continuing to be a loyal IOCL customer? I am still thinking. Not just because I do not like a language being mutilated like this. If a company has such scant respect for details . . .

I will mail the link to this post to the head honchos of Corporate Communications and Marketing of IOCL. I wonder what they will do.

Now "enjoy" the pictures below:

EkAMtate is a noun form of the noun EkAMta!

ಫಾರ್! That is a good one. jenuvin and aayil! Great!

ichidana!

Are they selling fuel and oil or are they selling a skin cream like Itchguard?

Now, what does that mean. Definitely not the kannaDa version of the English copy below it!

Anti-Blogging

2009-05-14T19:49:00.004+05:30

The former (thank you) president of the US of A George Bush divided the world into two camps. His notoriously dumb "Either you are with us or against us" seems to have caught on, however. By that world view this post must be classified as the name suggests.

I read an interview in German with a successfull authoress about blogging. She is swearing off blogs because of her own reasons. When I talked about this to Shruthi, she asked me if I could translate it for her and here I am. It is not a very good translation, but, all the important things are there.

So, here you go Shruthi!

Atheists' Call

2009-05-11T21:00:00.005+05:30

I recently translated an article from German.

The gist: Most holidays in Germany are Christian holidays. There is a demand for a non-Christian holiday! You can read the full (practically) text here.

Disclaimer: The text is not well edited. I may do it over time but it has all the important facts.

Older? Yes. Wiser? . . .

2009-05-09T13:08:00.006+05:30

Some time ago, I had a full head of hair. Ah! English is funny. Imagine my head with hair where the brain should be!!

"Some time ago" has a comforting ring to it. Does not reveal how long ago it was. I have to admit that it was a long time ago, anyway.

Somewhere along the line, I started losing hair. But, I did not lose sleep about it because I had lots of it, hair I mean. Losing sleep would only make things worse perhaps. No? Definitely, my hair line was receding. Being an optimist, I thought "less hair to comb" - in contrast, a pessimist would have thought "more face to wash" as the old joke goes.

One summer evening, it started raining, suddenly. Typical summer showers. Huge drops of water hit my head. As I was hurrying towards the nearest shelter, I heard some funny noises close by. Really close. I realised with shock that it was the sound of the water hitting my head. How could that be? What was all the hair doing? I was used to my hair getting wet with the scalp still dry. Of course, that is an exaggeration but not by much.

That evening when I reached home, I looked at the back of my head with the help of two mirrors to find that I had a bald patch where the whorl used to be. Oh ho! But, who cares. If you are bald, you are bald. So?

Continuing the hairy story the next unkind cut was that my moustache started greying. Not the hair on my head. My barber was sympathetic. He asked a question. How is it that the hair that is some fifteen years younger has started greying when the hair on the head is still black? He answered his own question. It is like the "modern" generation. Not very tough . . .

Over time, the moustache got greyer and greyer. Someone asked me why I did not dye it. I said, "I would rather die than dye" and was feeling pretty pleased about my wordplay when I was asked, "Then, why do you dye your hair?" Me? Dye my hair? Oh no. I had to pick out the few hairs that were grey on my head and show them that I did, in fact, not dye.

With all this, I still felt young. I believed (and still believe) in the adage: Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it does not matter. I don't mind. (Proof? Here it is: Not long ago some six of us, colleagues, were in the Netherlands for three months. I was the only one who went out every weekend, come rain (almost always) or shine (the remaining time), and saw a lot of places. The others were either tired, or not interested. I was the oldest of the six. QED)

In spite of the bald patch, now larger, and a grey moustache, now trimmed so short that it is like the Tundra from the earlier Amazon basin, when some PYT called me uncle I looked around to see who was being addressed and then found that I was the only one around! By the time I was getting used to this came a kick you know where. We were in Tekkadi and there was this lady having trouble with an incessantly crying child. I have a way with children, other than my own of course, and tried to distract this crying child. And the ingrate of a mother crooned to the baby "ahhh ha! Look at Granpa!" I almost stomped out. I stayed and continued my attempts to distract the child, but you bet, my heart was not in it.

Then came the unkindest cut of them all. Tutty Fruity, my dear niece, had Puttachi. And now I am a tAta - gran'pa, officially. That is Ta Ta to my illusions of youth.

Pssst: But when no one is watching, or for that matter even when many are watching, I continue to be myself.

Ready for Tomorrow?

2009-05-09T12:39:00.007+05:30

Reading a news paper is a health hazard. Mental health, I mean.

Violence from all over the world is the staple. Organised, sponsored by governments, conveniently ignored by governments, personal - greed induced, jealousy induced, film inspired . . . the list seems to be unending. Land grabbers, officials taking huge bribes, officials of failed banks and their huge bonuses . .

Fortunately for me, my news paper is delivered at such a time in the morning as I can not read it before I leave for work. Good thing. When I do read the papers, I filter out most of it and read what interests me. Saves a lot of time too.

It is a hard job being a self diagnosed "incurable" optimist in this cynical, violence-ridden world.

Then you come across something like this: Honest Taxi Driver Reaps Rewards.

Ah, I can face tomorrow. All is not lost.

Once an auto(rickshaw) driver drove to my place and returned a bag I and my wife had forgotten in it. Such things must be celebrated. They were celebrated here.

Did you hear about the taxi driver who returned a Stradivarius?

Yes. All is not lost!

German Power

2009-05-07T16:54:00.003+05:30

Have you seen the advertisement for Hyundai i10 on TV, in which Mr. Khan proves (or so we are expected to believe?) that power is not inversely proportional to speed?

Or this site?

Since when did we start specifying power in PS in India? Or should the question be, why have we not stopped using HP as the unit of power in India? PS is short for Pferdestärke - Horse Power, in German.

And why are we still using HP even though we are officially done with the archaic HP as unit of power?

Do we lack Horse sense? Or is it only that I do not have it and do not know why?

Julia Lermontova

2009-05-01T16:13:00.013+05:30

I visited Göttingen recently and spent a weekend there. Visiting Göttingen was a dream come true. After reading about it, for instance in “Brighter than a Thousand Suns”, I had a mental image of it which was clearer than that of places I have seen. But, as it often happens, when a dream does come true you feel that the dream was better. Is it the same phenomenon as the “The book was better”? After all the “the book” is not the book but the image you have of it (or its contents) in your mind! Chew on it. In any case, I was prepared for this and hence had a grand time.

Göttingen has memorials of many greats who lived there at some tome or the other. Benjamin Franklin and Goethe who spent just a month there. The very fact that so many great scientists lived there is the reason for the fascination with the place. I referred to my visit to Göttingen as a pilgrimage, almost sheepishly. After my return, browsing through the net for some missing information, I came across a site of a Japanese scientist who had called his visit to the place pilgrimage too. Ah, that is better. In any case, I posted the pictures of my visit to Göttingen and called the album Shree Kshetra Göttingen.

(As an aside, while talking to my sister about Wimbledon some time ago, I referred to it too as Shree Kshetra Wimbledon. Unfortunately I only passed through the Wimbledon Railway Station in 1985 but never made a proper “pilgrimage”. In a similar vein, I undertook a pilgrimage to Shree Kshetra Heidelberg once. Coincidentally, I passed the village where Boris Becker was born, one of the tennis greats who made SK Wimbledon his abode for a while, on my way to Heidelberg)

With that brief preamble/prologue/tangent/digression let me come to the main reason for starting this post. Julia Lermontova.

There is a plaque on a building commemorating the fact that she lived in that place when she was in Göttingen. Julia who? Lermontova who? Well that was my reaction too.

(Let me admit that this was my reaction to the name Lichtenberg too, which, in hindsight, is unpardonable for an electronics engineer with an interest in biographies of scientists)

But the name Lermontova (Spelt Lermontowa in German) did ring a bell, but, the wrong one. I remembered that there is a famous Russian called Lermontov. But who Lermontov was and what he did to earn his fame, I had no idea. Interestingly the only thing I remembered about him was his portrait - if I am not mistaken, in the magazine Soviet Land, but of course there is no way to confirm it. In any case, I learnt later that he was one of the greatest Romantic poets of Russia. Not unlike Galois, Lermontov died in a duel at the age of 27. This is a tragic thing. Not just the death, which definitely is tragic. The fact that in many cases the circumstances of the death of such people is the only thing we know about them. I can say now that that is all I know about Galois and Lermontov. (To be frank, I know a little more about Galois and his mathematics, even though it is only “journalistic” knowledge.) One more such name is that of van Gogh and that he shot himself and died when 35.

I found that Julia Lermontova was indeed remarkable. So here are two links about her.

Here and here

What a lot of text to put together just two links!

Here is a translation of the text of a commemorative plaque in the Archives of the city of Göttingen.

**********************

Julia Vsevolodovna Lermontova was born on 2. Januar 1847 (According to the Russian calendar in use then, on 21 December, 1846) in St. Petersburg and died on 16 December, 1919 in her ancestral country estate south of Moscow. Because of health problems and the circumstances of her private life she had to give up chemistry when she was 35.

Julia Lermontova is of outstanding importance in the perspective of the history of science in two ways. For one, she can be counted as the pioneer of womens education as she was not only the first one to get a doctorate in Chemistry, but also the first one to graduate according to all the formal requirements. For the other, through her work with the most important chemists of both Germany and Russia she brought together the scientific traditions of both countries and at the same time achieved importance through her own research work in the area of polymerisation.

**************

I also found that Lermontova is mentioned quite often in the articles about her friend and long time companion, Sofia Kovalevskaya. Another remarkable woman!

Credits: The picture of Julia Lermontova and the text of the commemorative plaque are from this site of Dr. Cordula Tollmien, with her kind permission.

Royalty, Cricket and Mobiles

2009-04-25T15:30:00.004+05:30

The title of my post reminds me of the name of a Kannada movie - kurubara lakkanoo elijabet raaNiyoo - "The shepherd Lakka and Queen Elizabeth". Perhaps appropriate.

Whenever I see the signs of Britain's preoccupation or fascination with their royalty, "we were amused" oops, I mean, I am amused. Their monarch reigns over a country where the sun almost never rises having once reigned over an empire on which the sun never set. Well he does rise but is obscured by the clouds, most of the time.

My amusement itself amused me because I myself belong to a country where royalty is not even officially recognised any more and we are still fascinated with it. The privy purses they were entitled to was abolished in 1969? But we too are still fascinated by our former royalty.

I was once incenced that the Deccan Herald referred to Srikantha Dutta Narasimha Raja Wodeyar (the son of the erstwhile maharaja of Mysore) as the "Raja himself". The papers and tabloids refer to an actor, the son of a former Nawab as the Chote Nawab. Nawab of what? Bollywood bunkum? There are many politicians who contest elections under the name of Maharani so-and-so and such. 60+ years after gaining independence from the biggest imperial force of the times should have made us immune to royalty. But alas, it has not!

The latest instance of our preoccupation with royalty is evident in the names of the teams of IPL. Royal Challenger, Super Kings, Kings XI (Roman numerals, for chrissake!). The most ridiculous is the Knight Riders. The only (k)night we ever knew was the long night of the British rule.

So being completely democratic I have decided to support only those teams which do not have a royal name. That leaves Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers. Which one of them should be my favourite?

Mumbai has usurped the title Indians. If there was another team with the name Indians attached to it, I would not have minded. So, Mumbai is out. Daredevils. I don't care all that much for daredevilry, so Delhi is out. That leaves the Deccan Chargers.

Now here is a name that is truly pan Indian - even though The Deccan itelf is not. We are neither a very equestrian nation nor do we have a great cavalry tradition. So, the only charger we know is the battery charger. It appears to me that the whole of India is preoccupied with mobile phones. Someone recently wrote that in India there appears to be an unwritten law which goes like "Thou shalt answer the call on your mobile, even if you are at a wedding and it is your own" Next to the phone itself, the most important gadget is the charger.

So Deccan Chargers it shall be that I support!

Puttachi Chronicles - Jag's Chapter

2009-04-21T21:03:00.003+05:30

You have to go here for Puttachi Central.

I went to Puttachi's place and gave her a small present. A (stuffed toy) rabbit I bought in Aachen. She loved it.

She was more fascinated by the silk band on the rabbit than the rabbit itself.

When I was leaving her home, her father told Puttachi that she should return the rabbit to me. I was astounded when Puttachi ran in seriously, picked the rabbit up and offered it to me!

When I told her that it was, in fact, her own, she shook her head vehemently and wanted me to take it back. I had to convince her that I had bought it just for her and hence she should have it.

Amazing kid!

Disabled Friendly

2009-04-19T15:36:00.005+05:30

Can you guess what the equipment which looks like an ATM is?

This is a device for people on wheel chairs to seek help in the Charels de Gaulle airport, Paris.

A wheelchair-bound person navigates his wheelchair to the machine and presses a button. The blue and white pad on the floor senses if there is really someone at the machine, a camera sends the image of the person someplace and within minutes there is someone to escort the wheelchair-bound person to wherever she/he wants to go in the airport. Very efficient. Very disabled-freindly.

India is supposed to have 70 million disabled people. They are mostly invisible. What is more, it is said that until the 2001 census their number was not even known!

As far as I can see, ours is a very disabled-unfriendly country. Try taking a wheelchair-bound person to a movie in Bangalore and you will know.

Even though, in terms of facilities, we are disabled unfriendly, I should say that the amount of pesonal help rendered by people is staggering. All you have to do is ask. Since most of our disabled are invisible, most people in public places are unaware of how to deal with them. But once you request them and tell them what to do, what you can get done is staggering.

And staggeringly touching and heart warming.

What the people in power have neglected is compensated for by the ever obliging public. Many even look as if you have done them a favour after helping you, instead of the other way around.

Makes me feel that ours is a terrible country manned by a terrific people.

But, the fact remains that a disabled person should feel no need to seek help to lead a normal life. It should be his for the taking, not for the asking.

Blogging in Kannada

2009-04-18T18:46:00.003+05:30

It continues to be a painful experience to blog in kannaDa.

I love blogging

I love Blogger and what it offers me.

But Blogger's kannaDa transliteration drives my crazy.

I have been using the transilteration used by baraha and it appears to me to be the most complete tool developed for writing in kannaDa. I do not understand why blaagar I mean blogger cannot just integrate baraha into it and make my life easier? Does anyone know how I could tell Blogger about this?

The silliest thing is that I can write kannaDa properly in kannaDa in blogger. That is the least one could expect. Is anyone from Blogger listening to this cry of frustration?

It used to amuse me no end that the spelling check of Blogger did not know blog, blogging and Blogger. Now it does! It still does not know Blogger's!

This gives me some hope.

Does anyone know how we can help Blogger do a better job of this?

I am waiting, hopefully not for Godot!

Attention to Detail

2009-04-18T18:03:00.011+05:30

I came across a board while driving to Ramanagara from Bengaluru. On the way back, I stopped to photograph it. It is an advertisement for a college of management and there is a spelling error in the board.

My further comments are in kannaDa - Here.

Five weeks at Aachen

2009-04-11T20:23:00.001+05:30

Here are some of my favourite pictures from my visit to Aachen and the stay of five weeks there. I uploaded the pictures in chronological order and ended up having them in the reverse chronological order. It should not really matter to you as you can see them as individual pictures. I have provided a brief description of each. Here you go!

This is the statue of Gänseliesel. One of the symbols of the city of Göttingen. The city is also called the city of science (Stadt der Wissenschaft) to which title, Aachen also lays a claim. Gänseliesel - loosely translated as Liesel with geese is called the most kissed girl in the world because the tradition in Göttingen is that a new doctorate from the university has to kiss this girl!

Visiting Göttingen was a long standing ambition of mine because of the seated man in the picture of the sculpture above - Gauss - a man who needs no introduction. The standing man is Weber. I felt that it is "blasphemous" that someone has placed a can of coke or red bull in Gauss' hand! I tried in vain to dislodge it before taking the picture. It originally held a (representation of) a copper wire, now lost. The locals call this statue, "It is not fair, you should let me sit too" or some such thing!

This is the grave of Gauss. Next to it is the grave of another great scientist Gmelin.

I call this picture the Bidige (The second day of the lunar fortnight) Chandra (Moon) from Göttingen. I happened to be there on the day after Yugadi (one of the many Hindu New Years days) and the clear sky after a very rainy day was too tempting not to shoot this.

This is another symbol of Göttingen. The towers of this church St. Johns Church are dissimilar. Viewed in brilliant evening sun after the very rainy day. It is the oldetst of the Göttingen churches - originally built in the 15th century. (I have not found out the reason why the towers are dissimilar, yet)

During my stay in Aachen, I stayed in an apartment in Burtscheid. Burtscheid was once a separate village and is now a part of Aachen. The picture of the church of St. Johann (John the Baptist), was shot from the window of the drawing room of my apartment.

A sunset in Aachen. I was returning home after shopping for some food and this was what I saw, from Eupener Straße. One end of this road, meets Weisshausstraße and at the junction is was my office.

The first time I saw frost. A rainy day, followed by a very clear night, the temperature dropped, the dew froze and . .

This is a wall made of trimmed trees. This was in a place called Kalterherberg (Cold Hostel - literally). Trees are planted very close to each other and repeatedly trimmed to make walls out of them. You can see doors and windows cut in them too, Very popular in the region.

A statue on the streetside, in Burtscheid.

Moonrise seen from a small alley called Soldatengässchen (Soldiers' alley) on the way from my office to my apartment.

Fresh overnight snow. I had only seen fallen snow - like this and far thicker too earlier. But never - falling snow. Aachen provided me an opportunity. It was raining - at about 9:30 in the morning and I looked up from my monitor and it was snowing. Got out of the office to the car park in the basement and shot some stills and shot clips too.

This is an interesting device. You can see such contraptions at the doors of many old houses. It is for scraping caked mud off your shoes when you return home on a rainy day. Perhaps nowadays this is no longer of any use in cities - with excellent roads and pavements.

A piece of streetside art on a street in Aachen. This was perhaps erected during an equestrian meet held in Aachen years ago. The horse looks as if it is in a cage but there is no gap between the horse and the vertical bars.

Near the Soldatengässchen mentioned above, is a Kindergarten. Quite a few posters were hung on its fence - all with the same message. The inscription reads "This is no toilet of dogs" to ward off dog walkers using the fence for the mentioned purpose. Looked effective too. Graphic graphics, apparently made by the students of the Kidnergarten!

The drawing room of my apartment and the window from which I shot the church of St. Johann. So this was home for five weeks full of learning.

Away at Aachen

2009-04-10T09:30:00.010+05:30

People who know me, find it difficult to believe that I have been "silent" - in terms of blog posts, that is - since February 24, 2009 - that is 7+ weeks.The reason for my silence is that I was in Aachen, Germany. I was being mentored there in the art of drafting patent applications. It was a time for serious learning and I enjoyed it. I had a grand time personally too.

Off office hours I had no access to the net and hence I could not blog. My mentor told me that once I start drafting patent applications, writing for pleasure, like blogging for instance, may feel different. Patent applications are documents written to secure a legal right on inventions - Interllectual Property. Achieving that purpose is paramount and the beauty of composition is the first casualty!

Charles Darwin found that writing the Origin of Species ruined his ability to enjoy literature. My earlier job involved reading patent documents and other technical literature. That did spoil my pleasure of reading literature - especailly pulp (Oxymoron?)! I do sincerely hope that patent application drafting won't spoil the pleasure of writing for pleasure!

Pardon me for talking about myself in the same paragraph mentioning Darwin. No comparisons intended. (Even if it was intended, who would believe it anyway)

Some say that his magnum opus actually contains some really lucid and beautiful prose, though! I have the book but I have not progressed beyond the first ten pages. One day . .

In any case, the camera I bought for the purpose of digitally recording my trip to Aachen has done its job well. I will post them in the next post and the rest of them on Picasa.

Spring in the Air - 2

2009-02-24T20:00:00.005+05:30

I had celebrated the arrival of spring with some pictures last year too also. The difference is that this time the camera is my own!

I am preparing to go to Germany for a month and one of the first things I did was to buy a camera! A Sony Cyber-shot DSC W210. I am yet to get used to it - having done all my earlier photography with a Canon T70. Here are some of the first results. Hopefully, more will follow before I leave, in about a week and of better quality than these.

Rain trees with new leaves. N R Colony, Near Nettakallappa Circle

Yellow flowers in bloom. Botanically oriented may please supply the name of the tree. These are to be seen on the from National College to Gayana Samaja.

Spring in the Air

2009-02-22T10:02:00.007+05:30

Don't say "Why should I?" like in the joke by George Mikes famous for his impossibly hilarious books such as "How to be an Alien" and "How to be decadent"!

This picture is to celebrate the arrival of Vasanta - Spring - in Bangalore.

This tree in full bloom, is jut around the corner from my home.

Anti-Superstition

2009-02-16T21:23:00.006+05:30

At last there is one advertisement to cheer about.

The ICICI Prudential advertisement makes some remark about the futility of adding letters to your name. Kkaran, in this case.

After Jayalalithaa and Yeddiyoorappa successes, perhaps this madness had gained in strength!

So, this advertisement is a welcome change.

Gandhi and Madonna

2009-02-16T21:08:00.004+05:30

I am sure that the title is catchy enough. But there is a reason for this title, other than an effort to make it catchy. At least, I did not put Madonna before Gandhi!

The Saturday issue of Deccan Herald carried two small news items. I had missed them and Jayanth Laxman, a friend who could always be relied on to bring such things to my notice, did bring them to my attention.

One said that a nude photograph of Madonna fetched some 37,500 dollars in an auction.

Right below this piece of information was the report that Gandhi's memorablia - sandals, watch, glasses, etc. will be auctioned soon and is expected to fetch 20,000 to 30,000 dollars.

No comments.

The Land of Kamasutra!

2009-02-07T17:48:00.004+05:30

I should perhaps write this in my Blog Peripatetica as it concerns an incident from my not so frequent travels. But the context is here and now.

In front of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris I came across the most unusual description of India.

There used to be a perfumes seller in front of the famed cathedral. He had a donkey kart filled with all kinds of perfumes. This ‘caricature’ of a Frenchman spoke several languages, flirted with all his women customers blatantly but charmingly. I watched his performance for a while and when my turn came (yes there is a queue in front of so humble a shop) I told him what i wanted. As he was preparing my order, he asked me, with a twinkle in his eyes: “Where are you from, Sir?”

“India”, I said.

He stopped his preparations and raised his hands in the air and looked heavenwards with reverence on his face, “Aaaah! The land of the Kamasutra!”. If he had mathematical bent, he would have said, “Aaaah! The land of zero!”, perhaps. Since he was an admirer of the ‘gentler’ sex, as evident by his flirting, it had to be Kamasutra, I guess.

If this happened today, what would he say? I wonder.

“Oh no, the land of the Kamasutra that does not tolerate public kissing?”

"Oh no, the land of Kamasutra that does not like Valentine’s day?"

No, I will not provide a link to that one. Why publicise something that craves just that?

I do not like Valentine’s day, which is just a commerce driven event that destroys the environment – with all the cards that are exchanged. The suspicion is that this is a non-event made big by the greeting card industry – as is often claimed.

But ban it? Threaten the couples with dire consequences – like marriage for instance!!!!?

Amreekandesi took objections to calling the happenings in Mangalore Talibanisation. I wonder if he will change his opinion, after this. Taliban imposed strict “Islamic behaviour” before it could get that kind of power. Men should have beards, women should be in Purdah, etc., and punished the offenders brutally. That was the first step.

A character in James Michener’s “Caravans”, set in Afghanistan, says something like, “Don’t give power to the mullahs. It will ruin the country.” It really does not matter if it is a Mullah or a priest in any other garb, power mixed with religion is ruinous.

I hope that we, as a nation, are better or luckier.

Women Are from Venus . . .

2009-02-03T11:56:00.003+05:30

Australian Open mixed doubles final. Great day for Sania Mirza. She has won her first grand slam title. Great day for ‘Hesh Mahesh Bhupati. This is his nth (n>10) grand slam title.

Prize distribution ceremony. The cup is given away and collected gleefully. The check is given away and collected gleefully.

Then the Australian special comes in. Two Teddy bears are offered and Sania’s hands are full – the large trophy. ‘Hesh collects it for her graciously and hugs one and dunks the other FACE DOWN (or bottom up) in the trophy Sania is holding. Sania says something sharply to ‘Hesh. He looks sheepish (or did I imagine that?) and adjusts the Teddy so that it faces the waiting cameras.

. . . . Men Are from Mars