Janappa the friendly barber...

Sunday mornings would start early the day there was an appointment with the village barber Janappa. Janappa a middle aged man a full time worker at the local mill carried the legacy giving hair trims to every one from the vegetable vendor to the village head. He would be there at the doorstep sharp at 7 ringing the bell and calling out "sahebra". Janappa would be greeted with a hot cup of tea before he got down to business. He sipped the tea and savored every sip "surring" it before he swallowed.

He had a compact box for his equipment much like a surgeon's case. It had some sharp scissors, shaving blades, a small green cup with soap which had a neat depression right in the middle, one that had formed due to regular use. Janappa was skilled in his art and took pride in it. He had a rhythm in his style, much like that of a percussionist following a certain pattern of beats. He would get into his form like a performer and end his beat cycles in anticipation of a round of applause.He snapped and snapped moved carefully along soft skin lines near the ears
made round edges at the back cleaning all the hair on the neck. Jannappa didn't end at trimming hair, his specialty was the refreshing head massage after the hair cut. He beat the top and the sides, pulled ears at regular intervals, like a drummer hitting the drums the snare and tinkering the cymbal occasionally.

While he did this there was an air of importance that clouded him, he gloated on how all powerful, weak, big or small had to bow their heads for him. How his profession was a great equalizer.This was such an event that it made it for waking up early on a Sunday morning.

Raag Nand, Lata and Ghalib.

I am a frequent visitor of Ranjan Parrikars articles on classical music. Last night while I was sampling renditions in raag Nand I stumbled upon this beautiful sher sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

Click here to listen.

It sounded so beautiful that I had to look for its meaning and I found it on this blog.
The message sure fills one with its profoundness and to top it Lata Mangeshkar's voice; her eloquence is simply divine.

Credits:
The below section is from sukhanwar-ghalib.blogspot.com.

naqsh fariyaadii hai kis kii shoKhii-e-tahariir kaa
kaaGazii hai pairahan har paikar-e-tasviir kaa

[naqsh:copy/print, fariyaad: complaint, tahariir: writing]
[kaaGazii: delicate, pairahan: dress, paikar: appearance]

In this sher Ghalib complains about the existence of mankind to the Creator. ‘Naqsh’ represents mankind, which complains to the creator represented here by the ‘Tahrir’ of which it is a part. O God!, why did you create me in your playfulness? The second line elaborates this complaint by saying, “Kagazi hai pairahan har paikar-e-tasveer ka”. In ancient Persia, there was this tradition of wearing paper attire whenever any complainant went to the Sultan for the redressal of his grievance. So Ghalib laments that all existence is nothing but a complaint.

Holi Hai !

Aayi aayi rangon ki holi |
Khushiyon se bharne ham sab ki jholi ||

Udati hai rang gulabli |
dhodeti har jag ki kharabi ||

Neela jo hath se choote |
roothe preetam ka man loote ||

Hara jo ud ud aaye |
tan man ki klesh mitaye ||

Aayi aayi rangon ki holi |
Khushiyon se bharne ham sab ki jholi ||

Cricket Ka Karamyudh

Very well made ad, some observations.

• They have sold this idea of cricket where teams don't play for their nations. It is interesting the way they have branded it as "Karma yudh". The players play to exhibit their best skills, the best of what they have practiced for years.
• Very impressed by the music and the tempo it builds, it makes it seem big and important.
• Finally well made graphics, this ad makes the point and makes it effectively.

The world's largest experiment

Attended this lecture by Uwe Bratzler a physicist on what is said to be "the world's largest experiment".

This experiment is an attempt to simulate the bing bang which occurred around 15 billion years ago. The summary of the talk better explains the experiment. The large hadron collider is expected to produce the elusive Higgs boson ("God Particle"), and throw some light on how other elementary particles acquire mass.

Apart from such deep theories on particle physics, the quest is to answer the fundamental questions around the evolution of universe. Wouldn't we all all want to know how did it all start, from nothing to something and how it would all end.

This first stanza is in Sanskrit (Rig Veda, Book 10, Hymn 129)

nāsadāsīn no sadāsīt tadānīṃ nāsīd rajo no vyomāparo yat |
kimāvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmannambhaḥ kimāsīd ghahanaṃ ghabhīram ||

Srishti se pehle sat nahin thaa, asat bhi nahin
Antariksh bhi nahin, aakaash bhee nahin thaa.
Chhipaa thaa kyaa, kahaan, kisne dhaka thaa?
Us pal to agam, atal jal bhi kahaan thaa.

Truth/Good did not exist before the Universe came to be
Neither did Untruth/Evil
Neither did Space
Neither did the sky
What was hidden? Where?
Who had covered it?
At that moment
Unmoving, strong ocean was not there either

-credits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Ek_Khoj

listen to these beautiful lines here



The above lines were made famous by the show "Discovery Of India"( it was played in the title track).

These are the very questions which men pondered upon might have some answers after this experiment.

More on CERN and their experimental setup.

Bhatiyar - early morning raaga

I heard this melody growing up in Rashtriya Saaksharta Abhiyaan ad campaign. It would leave an impression on any listener. One could say it has a calm expression of hope.

Purab se surya uga, faila ujiyara,
Jaagi har disha-disha jaaga jag saara...

For an avid classical music listener I would encourage listening to this beautiful rendition by Shruti Sadolikar Katkar. The mood is still early morning, but the emotions are that of yearning.

Balama na aaye more dwar,
Sej sajaon aur daloo har
Sagari raina more jagata beeti
tadap tadap jiya raha bulawe..

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