Wednesday, July 26, 2006

AJ

Q: What do you call a PhD student XYZ, before he/she becomes Doctor XYZ ?
A: "Patient" XYZ

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Thursday, July 20, 2006

Nanniyaarodu njan chollendu* ?!



Alright, so cleared the PhD proposal defense.. with a note which essentially meant "you have a long way to go tho', but we clear ur proposal, and you can get on track with ur work"

So this is a li'l thank you note, for any of u who may have missed an individual mail from me ...

I have got a whole world to thank for.. from Ma Saraswathi who gave me all courage yesterday evening to my parents (who sure deserve a visit by me after 3 long years) to all my friends to my dear Chetak, which hardly game me any trouble in the past 6 months while I was working thro' this

Many of ur wishes meant a lot to me... and rambler, I have to say your little note yesterday was really touching... after all you are "chechi" (elder sis) to me by 3 days :-) .. so do I get something on Aug 9 ?! :-) ...

with that litttle note, I go back to my adrisya mode, only to be back with more later

~drisya

ps: title of the post from a song from the Malayalam movie "Aham", which literally translates to "whom should I thank? "

Friday, July 14, 2006

wow !


So, I shamelessly breach my own self impossed blogging restriction.. but tell me who wouldn't, after seeing this.. Thanks Ravibhai, for sending this lovely inspirational pic, and more so for sending an apt samskritam quote with it ....

“A mouse rides on the back of a frog in floodwaters in the northern Indian city, Lucknow June 30, 2006. REUTERS/Pawan Kumar (INDIA)”

from http://news.yahoo.com/photo/

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here's the shloka as it is.. din't bother to make any "ITRANS" corrections (Avinasha/FITW/..)

Paropakaaraartham idam shareeram
paropakaaraya sataam vibhootayah
Yate satpurushaah paraartha yhatakaah
swaarthaan parityajya yeheh

Thursday, July 13, 2006

countdown

A surgery for my Father a few days before (which went good, thank God), a whole nite yesterday spent trying to help my friend who had to leave for India on a family emergency..... a flat tire this morning in the middle of I-95 while driving at 75 mph to give some one a ride..... (once more, thanks to the awesome way Chetak handled it.... kept going without any problems, with a flat tire for almost 5-8 more miles.... and the tire had some two big nails and some n cracks on it.. wonder how he managed so far).....

and with my exam on July 20th, hopefully, something that I have waited for 5 long years .... something tells me I need to go slow on "other stuff" ... so if you saw a silence from me (atleast on my blog) about the Mumbai blasts.. or no follow ups about the petition, you know why.... and u hopefully understand that its not as tho' I don't care for all the 2 or 3 or may be 4 "breakdowns" or near breakdown or complexities of personal life that different friends of mine have had in the last few days or weeks ... (and many times, I knew before u told me.... even though u may have thot I did not..... but then for now, I have only this to tell u all "Udharet atmanaatmaanam" ) ... and sure, i have not cancelled any of ur requests, be it housing help or driving help....or the airport pick up... just have postponed them, HER willing

and thats why "U", when u called thrice of four times, I still did not appear to care.. not that I don't care for Mumbaikars .. and thats why "K" I had to be stern in tellin u "Keep me out of this.. and I know nothing".. not because I don't want to know anything ..... And thats why "S", I perhaps may not even be able to drop by to see how the li'l kids enjoy my 3 year old treasure hunt which u are recycling in the absence of this "uncle" to plan it for a 5th consecutive year... and not because I have stopped loving those little devils, the most awesome creation of HERS !

yes, indeed you know my 24/7/365 1-800-ENMERGENCY no: but that line might be a bit unaccessible for one week....just think that its off for "routine maintanence.. ha ha ha" sure ur messages are welcome but in case u do not see that return call for hours, or days, hope u understand....

I shall b back...

Monday, July 10, 2006

7,170,666




So now, I have an answer for "Is there a point in online petitions?" . The petition was featured and heavily quoted as a main news in Kerala's second leading newspaper - Mathrubhumi- with a circulation of over seven million ( the heading of this post is the exact number of circulation as quoted in Jan 05, in this news item

http://www.rediff.com/business/2000/jan/05kerala.htm

I wish all u cud read Mallu :-) or there were an english version of the paper . How did Rambler and I do it ? - ha ha thats a secret :-) .. and believe me guys, it was perhaps even featured on Amrita TV and MAY - MAY come in a leading Indian American newspaper as well

And thanks to my friend in UIC and his brother in Kerala, a printed copy of the petition is hopefully on its way to the Temple Devaswom board

Thank You one and all for your support and I think I am most likely going to follow this up...whenever I am done with my exam !!!

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On second thoughts, my heart bleeds for my non-Mallu friends who can't read it.. so here goes my translation

The first picture is the front page of the internet version from http://www.mathrubhumi.com

The title reads "American Hindus in support of Meera Jasmine"

The second picture is the internet version of the news. The translation is roughly as follows

"American Hindus have come out in support of Meera Jasmine who has been criticised for worshipping in Taliparamba Raja Rajeshwari temple.

The group calling itself as "NRI Hindus" have called upon Hindus around the world to protest against the incident. Most of those who have responded on the site www.petitiononline.com/4meera are malayalis

Meera may have breached the law. But what logic is there to the law? is the question asked in the introduction. Lot of non-Hindus have darsan in temples without anyone knowing. Do they do purification for such incidents ? Is it her fault that Meera is famous ? Those who respect hinduism are not stopped at any temples. Why different rules only for temples in Kerala ?

It is noticeable that Jasmine Mary Joseph have adopted the name Meera and have repeatedly said she respects hinduism and temple beliefs. A true believer should be welcomed in any temple - the petition says by quoting Swami Vivekanada

Those who say Meera Jasmine should apologize should be the ones apologizing for their narrow mindedness. Boards saying non-hindus are not welcome should be removed from temples. The group says that if need be one can get a written statement saying they believe in temple rituals

Eventhough most people who have responded to the petition are from USA, there is also Anil Damodaran from UK. Anil who is from Taliparamba says he is ashemed of the incident. Some people have protested against Marxist rules as well. Malini Nair has asked that if Marxists can steal money from temples, why can't true devotees like Meera be allowed atleast a darsan.

Anupama Ramachandran, a research student from Maryland University is the one leading the campaign for Meera Jasmine "

CHILLL

Thursday, July 06, 2006

The Meera Jasmine petition

( A note dated: May 30, 2007 , almost a year after the petition - readers may also want to read

http://drisyadrisya.blogspot.com/2006/07/7170666.html
http://stochastic-blah-blah.blogspot.com/2007/05/temple-entry-to-everyone.html

to know some after-effects of the petition )

Now for the original post below:
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See my previous post, and thanks to the encouragement from rambler, we now have the petition up and running.. Please sign it, and cut and paste the message below and send it to your friends

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

Dear friends

Please take a minute or two to read and sign the following petition and pass it on to your friends

http://www.petitiononline.com/4meera/

In brief : National award winning actress Meera Jasmine was made to apologize and pay for purification rituals for having entered a temple in Kerala inspite of being born into a Christian family. By her own admission Meera respects Hinduism and its rituals and as proud Hindus we feel that such denial to genuine seekers of Hinduism is illogical. Through this petition, we aim to bring awareness and get the support of Hindus around the world to help remove such restrictions to those who genuinely repect Hinduism and would like to explore it, and to truly put to practice the Inclusiveness and Universalism, unique to Hinduism

thank you for your time
best wishes
petition authors

Saturday, July 01, 2006

The mallu christian actresses !

(Pic: Meera jasmine, from the net)





Mallu land remains like the oil in water.... seperate from the rest of India.. it never stops surprising me. When in Bollywood, almost every (ready every) non Hindu actor is married to or after a Hindu girl (/actress/model), the Mallu christian actresses have set a reverse trend



* Years before , actress Lizi married director Priyadarshan (did she become Lakshmi ?!)



* Annie, another famous actress married to Shaji Kailas (filmmaker) and now has two kids- Jagan and Jain



* Actress Beena Antony, if my memory serves me right married a Hindu guy



And now Meera Jasmine - the National award winning actress and born to a christian family - seems to be the next in line. There are rumours of her affair with a leading Hindu actor, but I would consider that gossipp until they themselves admit. But then she visited a temple recently. As usual the orthodox temple authorities have made it an issue and done purification - idiots, your minds needs purification. A race hell bent on self-extinction !!!



Interestingly one report in Keralakaumudi says she has converted to Hinduism (which I do not buy yet) . In another report, Meera has said she had the permission after having affirmed her faith in Hindu rituals and practices, and apologised for any hurth feelings for having entered the temple.... Oh yeah, Those who want to become Hindus also, you gotta take them through a path of "apologies" .. before you welcome them - unwillingly - into the already apologetic Hindu crowd ..



Anyday behind you, Meera, compared to the spineless namesake Hindus who are ashamed of their religion.. My best wishes




Update on Aug 9, 2011: After Lizzie, Annie, Jomol, Beena Antony the latest edition to the list is Nayantara . Meera Jasmine too seems to be set to marry a Hindu