What I am listening

Great melody by Rahul Sharma (Son of santoor legend Shiv Kumar Sharma)

click on the image to see...

fun pics - on road

Confluence of good and evil

Yesterday I passed by chord road which used to be not so busy while I was growing up.Bangalore and its majesty ( majestic - pun intended, a place in Blore) were impressive when I would come here to spend part of my summer vacation.

Now why "Confluence of good and evil", given two words "ice cream" and "home work" does it make you wonder ? I wondered the same... how can ( a place which sold some thing so divine ) ice-cream shop have the name "Home work" (hours and hours of repeating the same stuff you did the entire year ufffff). All kids at home walked every evening to "homework" to enjoy the cold delicacy, an important class I would be eager to attend on a vacation day and wouldn't hesitate to repeat ;).

Journey home

My read on plane

National Art Museum Taipei

story behind the above painting

This blog comes to you from Singapore Changi airport.

Truly international cuisine

Necessity is the mother of invention

Necessity : good food on a work day
Problem : No good vegetarian eateries near by, predominantly Asian food around ( Thai, Chinese etc) except for a soup and sandwich place.

Solution: A truly international cuisine
Soup from sandwich place ( the other day it was Italian minestrone soup ) - European
Rice from a Thai place - Asian
A bag of lays chips - guess that's American

I imagined it to be rice with sambar ( Indian ) and that was my lunch !

Today's News Media

news  /nuz, nyuz/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[nooz, nyooz]
–noun (usually used with a singular verb)

1.	a report of a recent event; intelligence; information.

2.	the presentation of a report on recent or new events in a newspaper or other periodical or on radio or television.

The news channels today present news with so many emotions and feelings that as a viewer you hardly have a chance to filter the facts out of a report and make sense of it.
I remember the days as a kid when I used to watch the famous Doordarshan news on Indian television, that seemed more like fair journalism to me. The news reader had no expression or feelings attached with any news item, it barely made any difference if India won or lost on the days cricket match, the news was pronounced with absolute indifference.

Check out this funny ad

Click here to see

Manku Timmana Kagga : 1

Antoo entoo yentoo jeevakathe mugiyuvudu |
Andoo endoo yendoo januma kaleyuvudu ||
Ondee maruvina musuku musukalihudellavanu |
Santasada matishte - manku timma ||
- DVG

This way or that, the story of life will be over.
today, tomorrow, some day there will be an end.
But there will be one veil of forgetfulness (covering all our miseries)
and that is the beauty of life.

Above is a 4 liner by D.V.G a well known writer and philosopher in Kannada. You see my understanding of the verse.

Where did all those years go ?

It was such a pleasent surprise when my sister sent me the above pic this morning. I wondered where did all those years go ? this is not a new question ! we all stumble on it every once in a while.

Down the memory lane : I guess it was roughly 20 years ago, my dad with his new Cannon camera wanted to take my solo pic, but he gets this when my sister decides to appear from behind the curtains with her super scary pose...! oooooooh I was scared ....

India - a highly developed nation in an advanced state of decay

The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. The Mohenjo-daro ruins pictured above were once the center of this ancient society.

"India is not, as people keep calling it, an underdeveloped country, but rather, in the context of its history and cultural heritage, a highly developed one in an advanced state of decay."

- Shashi Tharoor.

Off late my reading interests have been floating around Indian authors, for I can relate to what they are saying and also partly a way to experience home away from home.A couple of months ago I read "The Great Indian Novel", "Riot" and a couple of more books by Shashi Tharoor. And the above quote is from one of his books. (FYI the Gov of India has endorsed Shashi Tharoor's candidature for the post of the U N Secretary General.)

I find this view on India very refreshing. I like it for it comes from an Indian at the highest post serving an international body like the UN. I agree on most parts of this message but I have my own doubts.

There is no doubt on how advanced India was in almost every field. There were legends like Aryabhata, Sustruta, Charaka who pioneered in science. Let me quote one of the examples on how informed and advanced science was in ancient India. If you have read the Mahabharatha, Bhisma one of the prominent characters was supposed to a well known medico of his times. He coined the term "Hridaya" for heart. This is in Sanskrit. Let us split the word to its roots to understand what it means.

Hridaya = hrith + da + ya
Hrith- comes from the root aaharati, meaning to gather.
da - from the verb dadati , meaning to give
ya - from yapi, meaning to split.

Hridaya means something that gathers (blood), splits (impure from the pure blood) and gives it back to all the organs. This was known to the western world in the late 16th century when William Harvey discovered it.

Hmm alls well India was a great nation, now my doubt on the last part advanced stage of decay. There were other great nations which had great pasts. Italy, France most of the central and western Europe with cultures as old as the Indian subcontinent. Why is that we see decay only in India?

- My ideas on why India to appear in a later blog....(I am too lazy to write anymore)
(ahh may be that is one reason - too lazy to pass on ideas :) )

Hare Krishna Hare Rama

Nara janma bandaga nalige irovaga krishna yanabarade...
(when blessed with human life , while you can still speak chant krishna)
Krishnana nenedare kashta ondhistilla krishna yanabarade....
(chanting krishna would free you from all problems .. chant krishna)
-Sri Purandhara daasaru

I read vedas speak of bhakti (devotion). I am talking about my experience with bhajana sampradaya, bhakti by means of devotional songs and music. I touch on no particulars of gods or any supernatural power, all I am trying to say is what my senses felt and what mind sensed. The need to write this..well.... today I visited the local ISKCON center.

My today’s visit reminded me of my very first visits to the ISKCON temple as a young kid of say 7 or 8 years. The very idea of the songs and rhythmic accompaniment of the dhols(percussion instruments) with synchronized movement of the devotees up and down the platform in front of the deities singing in perfect unison, all this would amuse me. Then all this was mere part of an evening outing my maternal uncle would take all the kids at home (when we visited Bangalore during our summer holidays). Today when I saw the same set up again I wondered what soothes human mind, as part of the physical set up and not something metaphysical.

Here are few of my observations, As I mentioned earlier the songs had great rhythm and were loud... I could hear nothing but what was being sung around me.....that isolated me from all the sounds of the outside world. The deities were beautifully decorated with flowers so my eyes could see beautiful colors.. And the place was filled with fragrance of flowers ..... Finally to complete the experience there was great food served so that hunger would not distract me.

All the senses were channelized so that they were running in an isolated mode from the outer world.....and hence the mind which is the processor of all these inputs was in isolation too.

The Gang

Shetty, Pujax, Muttal, Shane, Nikki, Biddu(BnB) & Roi

the local boys

Wohoo.... local boyz Prad, Roi, Pammi and Harriboi
on top of Gol Gumbuz summer of 97 or 98 I don't remember.

Mandolin Srinivas Live in concert

This weekend was one of the perfect weekends. Had all the niceties I like to spend my time offs.
Good food: Pongal and bendekai gojju.
afternoon sleep: ahh nothing like afternoon nap after good food
evening music: to top it all, was there at a Mandolin concert with a bunch of friends, by none other than the only Mandolin Srinivas (His last name had to be Mandolin for all he has done to make it a main stream instrument).

High-lights of the concert for me.... he played raagas Chandrakesi(this was more like a raga mala where he would play various ragas and come back to the basic one) and my all time fav Raghuvamsha sudha.

More to come on performers and my take on all the lime light .....

New Melodies in bollywood music

New movie songs that caught my attention

Jiya dhadak dhadak jayee Pure melody and beautiful use of instruments. I have taken a liking to Rahat Fateh Ali Khans music, the other song I like by him is Lagan lagi tumse man ki lagan.

The other one is Guncha koi mere naam very nice song with only guitar. Believe me it is not
a very easy song to sing eventhough it sounds so simple.

Swapna sundari....

" Swapna sundari " do not get fooled by the title.... it is food in this context. Off late I have been dreaming of food, great food...!
Dream sequence
Starring: Sautekai(cucumber) sambar and my friends (Rohit and Pradeep). Well I was wondering how come Harish(part of our local boys gang) was missing, the location for this dream was Seattle and currently Harish is visiting India :) .
It is this beautiful day where we friends sit together to enjoy a sumptuous meal, and what do
we have yes Sautekai sambar with hot rice served on a plantain leaf and a spoon full of ghee. Sambar was so enticing that next day I had to treat myself with this tasty sambar.
You see (from right)Pradeep, Sandeep and Rohit.... Harish is missing ....haan.. ya he is in India right.....! (naa he took this pic...and was taken about 6 years ago)

Wait my blog doesn't end here let me tell you how I cooked my sambar the next day....

What you need:
1. Cucumber (Zucchini) 1
2. Grated coconut. 10 gms
3. Tamarind. say 10 gms
4. Jaggery. 10 gms
5. Standard tadka stuff : oil, mustard and cumin seeds.
6. toor dal. 50 gms
7. Any standard sambar powder
8. Chili powder

• Wash toor dal and cook it in a pressure cooker.
• Cut Cucumber into small rectangular pieces.
• Heat oil, put mustard seeds, wait until they make chat...chat sound
• Now add cumin seeds, curry leaves and cucumber pieces.
• Add salt to taste and some turmeric powder.
• fry it till cucumber pieces are cooked
• Now add your sambar masala, chilli powder (to your taste) let this thing cook for a while so that the masala gets into those cucumber pieces.
• Ahh by now dal should be nice and cooked, add dal to this mixture.
• opps did I tell you that you should have soaked tamarind in water right in the beginning, if not its ok do it now.
• Cut jaggery into small pieces.
• Now put the extract you get out of soaked tamarind and the cut jaggery in your hot cooking sambar.
• Now if you have some grated coconut add it ....
• Let it cook.. boil...! for some time.... and your sambar is ready...!

serve it with white rice and ghee.....

What the heck is going on...!

Please follow this link for a news report on Deccan Herald.

IISc attack: Another LeT activist nabbed

It was shocking to see terror in my own backyard. IISc a place so beautiful and calm, a place of knowledge witnessed such an incident.

What hurts me even more is when they investigated they found some traces up in north karnataka, place I grew up. How is that there this unrest here in this place which is famous for Saints like Shishunal Sharif a muslim saint tutored by a Hindu guru and had followers from all faiths.

Sad indeed.....

Atal Vani...

This is one of Atal Bihari Vajpayees poems I like.

Here is an attempt to translate it to english.
Please put in comments if you think my interpretations are
incorrect.

You can listen to this poem in his voice here.

Apne hi man se kuch bolen

Let us speak our minds

What did I gain or lose in this world,
In this game of constant union and seperation.
I have no qualms with any, if one deceives me .
Let us cast a look on our past, let us jolt our bag of memories.

Earth is ages old, life an endless story.
But our bodies have limitations.
It is enough when the end comes knocking be there to embrace it yourself.

Birth - death is a continious cycle ,life - like a group nomads.
with today here... and an uncertain tomorrow...?
who knows where the next sunrise is....
In this seemless dark sky, weigh the wings of your life(see how far you can fly)

Let us speak our minds.....

When my best friends visited me...

Harish and Pradeep are of my best friends. I have known these guys for the last 11 years now.They visited me together when I was at KSU. These were the pictures taken then.....

We all go to our University food court for lunch....

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ........... guess the lunch was too heavy...!

Wohoo Malgudi Days on DVD

For all those R K Narayan fans.... here is a great news, now you can see the first 13 episodes on DVD. It is by far my favourite TV serial on Indian television. Its a feast to watch the pros perform.R K Narayan's Story, Shankar Nag's direction and actors are no less with likes of Anant Nag, Girish Karnad and master Manjunath. It is an extroordinary effort which takes you through this simple small town of Malgudi.

I got mine..... here

Chapter Listings:
01. A Hero
02. A Horse And Two Goats
03. The Missing Mail
04. The Hoard
05. Cat Within
06. Leela's Friend
07. Old man and the temple
08. The Watchman
09. A Willing Slave
10. Roman Image
11. Sweets for angels
12. Seventh House
13. Nithya

Soulful Sarod

Sarod is simply one of the most soulful musical instruments I have listened to. Soulful ? you got to listen to it to understand what I am saying. Its a string instrument no doubt but the notes it plays are very soft. I have always associated its sounds with deep emotions and pensiveness.
On my mind right now is raag Dhamar - a rendition by Ustad Amjad ali.

Sample- raag Pahadi- Ustad Amjad Ali Khan

Bicycles prohibited....!

I got this, one fine summer morning on my bus stop.

Between land and water

La Jolla Sandiego aug 6th 2004.

If you are wondering why I have that expression on my face,
I am waiting for my hi-fi sony camera to take my pic.

Land : Body :: Water : Mind
Hence between Body and Mind

Shwanopakhyana.....

Let me first tell you about the title "Shwanopakhyana".
You can divide it into 2 words Shwana + Upakhyana.
Shwana = Dog , Upakhyana =to say about (tell a story about). This is mostly a word I think I have put together .... and the 2 words used are sanskrit.

This picture was taken summer 2004 near pike place market Seattle, during one of my daily strolls exploring the city which was only days new to me.

Now the title of this blog is also the title of a poem I wrote in spring 2004 in Manhattan, Kansas expressing an interesting incident in my life "a dog bite..". And the dog which bit me more or less looked like the one in the picture but was brown in color.

Shwanopakhyana
------------------
Suhani shaam thi, halka sa dhoop tha,
sundar prakrati ka roop tha, cycle pe apni main sawar tha.

jaise khilte huye bahar main baad aajati hai,
ek achi si love story main villan ki entry ho jati hai....
mere kahani main bhi ek twist aaya,
ek khunkhar kutte ko maine apni aur aate huye paya.

Kutte ko dekh hogaya main pani pani
socha khatam hogayi meri jeevan kahani,
kutte ne yeh jo chalang mari
uske muh me mani apni tang payi.

Woh dekho kutte ka malik aaya
Kutte ki aturata samajhaya.
Bola -
" jab kutta chota bacha tha,
man ka bilkul kacha tha,
Cyclewale ne koi use peet diya,
tab se kutte ne taan liya,
har cyclewale ko dushman manliya"

Sham dhali aur raat aayi, hamko samajh yeh baat aayi,
har kurupta ke piche hum hi the aur yeh manav kul hi tha.......
har kurupta ke piche hum hi the aur yeh manav kul hi tha.......