5 yrs

May 18, this blog completed 5 yrs..

This is the 225th post

and the visitor counter has just gone past 20,000

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Considering that there were 200 posts in the first 3 years, ( http://drisyadrisya.blogspot.com/2008/05/3-years-200-posts.html ) last two years have seen only a post-a-month average

Well, no promises ahead :-) let time tell whats in store going fwd

Thanks to all readers

The "Tu hi re" Fort

The "Uyire" Bekal Fort.. "

and now for the 'original' :)

the dream Sanskrit movie

It has been a thought - a dream - for a while ... when will we have a commercial Sanskrit movie with 'mainstream' artists ? and here I am, starting to collect possible artists - feel free to add more in the comments...

1) Thalaivar Rajanikanth - http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/feb/07sree.htm

He said, 'Malayalam is quite similar to Sanskrit, and I therefore understood all the dialogues very well.'

2) Asin - http://www.simplymalayalees.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=442

She is a native speaker of Malayalam, and claims to speak Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Sanskrit, English and French.

3) And now Mohanlal - http://malayalam.galatta.com/entertainment/malayalam/livewire/id/Revitalise_Sanskrit_Mohanlal_36630.html

In his speech after accepting the honorary doctorate degree from Governor R.S. Gavai at the special convocation of the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in Kochi on Tuesday, Malayalam superstar Mohanlal said that Sanskrit should be revitalised as it represents the culture of the country. Sanskrit was lying somewhere in the layers of mankind and should be revived for the overall welfare of the country, he said

Pointing out that he had not learnt Sanskrit, Mohanlal said that he feels it a great loss while trying to understand the language through his research and acting

How about we arrange to teach you Sanskrit ? :)

PC issues another 'final warning'

The following 2 links r items from March 2010

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/india-warns-pakistan-of-decisive-response-330

dire warning from India that another cross-border attack on its soil would invite a swift and decisive response from New Delhi.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/87913/World/Swift+response+if+26/11+repeated:+Chidambaram.html

In a categorical warning to Islamabad, New Delhi has said India would "respond swiftly and decisively" if there is another attack emanating from Pakistan.

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That shud make us proud, and hopeful . But wait a minute - what about this Nov 2009 speech -

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/chidambarams_final_warning_to_pak_stop_sending_terrorists.php

In a very strongly worded speech, Home Minister P Chidambaram has issued what he called a final warning to Pakistan.

http://www.in.com/news/current-affairs/chidambarams-final-warning-to-pak-11460573-0f05149557c546b9baef7e8c180d6ee37cfac7c0-hp.html

Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday night warned Pakistan against meddling with India and said any more attack from the country will be retaliated “very strongly”

Pune attack happened, and we all saw what did (not) happen

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So what PC meant must be that next time there is an attack, he will be much more swift in issuing the next final warning !

mao-chao-s

I'm not exactly sure where the (unexpected) communication gap was between the three Ms - the Maoists , the 'Magsasite' and the Media

* Pillai says Maoists planning to overthrow Indian govt by 2050 and has its own army

* Maoists name Suzanne Arundhati Roy as one of the possible mediators

* As a 'faithful' mediator, Roy already started her work by contradicting and challenging Pillai

* And then comes the Maoist statement confirming their plans

links
1) http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/kishenji-names-possible-mediators-for-talks-with-government-17312.php

It was a virtual face-off between the Home Secretary and writer-activist Arundhati Roy who challenged Pillai's statement that Maoists are virtually building an army to overthrow the state of India

2) http://www.breakingnewsonline.net/newswatch/1124-maoists-to-overthrow-indian-state-much-before-2050-says-kishenji.html

"We will overthrow the Indian government much before 2050" Kishenji told PTI. "We have own army, which is capable of overthrowing the Indian government much before 2050", he claimed.

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PS: I am reminded of a Romila Thapar statement which sounded something like - "Even if you show me memoirs of Babar saying that for the sake of islam I destroyed Ram temple, we historians don't accept that, we have our own methodology for 'arriving at' history"

Fools and Bigger Fools

Hoping to get some "entertainment" from the idiot box on a Friday evening, I was channel browsing , and CNN-IBN and the other English news channels did not disappoint. The "lead story" on CNN - IBN was how Mumbaikars stood up to Shiv Sena threat and how "most multiplexes" in Mumbai ran a "full house" of "My Name is Khan"

I have in some of my previous posts written about Shiv Sena ( Refer the first half of the title for this post), but today the more entertaining ones were the sir and ma'm of the show.. I mean the hosts of India @ 9 or whatever..

After the clippings of the "packed houses" ( means may be 20-30 people in front of a theatre ) and interviews with some can't-figure-out-if-its-a-he-or-she folks saying "we won't let ourselves to be bullied" , there was finally the interview with the ShivSena spokesperson, and here is how it went more or less ( SS for Shivsena fella, CNNS for the CNN Sir and CNNM for the ma'm, and my comments are in brackets)

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CNNS: So SS, tell honestly, do you accept defeat

SS: (After some philosophical discourse on how media is supposed to be the fourth pillar -or did he mean fifth column - of the society got into some statistics) - There are 263 theatres in Maharahstra and only 13 (or was it 30?) screened MNIK . In Mumbai only 4 theatres screened it . How do you still say that it was screened in "most theatres" ?

CNNM : (looking at what is perhaps a paper - or was she checking her face in the mirror once more - on the table) But we have here reports that the movie was running to packed houses
( ma'm you did not reply to SS' question or statistics...)

SS: Where are you getting statistics that even the few theaters than ran were packed ? I have seen clippings showing many empty seats

CNNS : Are you saying that nobody in Mumbai has seen the film in Mumbai today ? ( lol, even an LKG kid would understand the difference between what SS said and what you attribute to him)

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What I thought would be a cornering of the SS guy, in just a couple of minutes turned to be a comedy show by the anchors ! I continued my browsing and somewhere I found the other "major news" for the day (I think it was CNN-IBN again). That of how Pramod Muthalik (lets call him PM) got a "taste of his own medicine" when he got his face blackened by "Youth Congress activists" .

Yet again, PM belongs to the first half of the title, but today I am more exited about the second halfers . So how come, when Youth Congress retorts to violence , even if its against another violence, it becomes "getting back", but if only it were a "right-wing" reaction to say a Christian aggression, or an Islamic invasion it becomes "two wrongs don't make a right" . How come when a disputed so-called mosque is pulled down, it becomes "two wrongs don't make a right"? Why don''t the same media call it "Islam getting a taste of its own medicine" ? ( In fact 1 in a ten-thousand part may be) . When Muthalik is attacked "he deserves it" , may be he does, so then what about when CNN-IBN office itself is attacked ?

Going back to Mumbai, some news anchor was seen asking "Who gives Shiv Sena the right to decide what Mumbaikars should do?" . Mam, who give "English News Channels" the right to decide who is communal and who is not, to label some one a criminal even before a court sentences him guilty, to distort facts as it likes and then to remain silent without even an apology when proved wrong ? Who gives you the right to keep bombarding us with distortions and biased reports ?

Though done without a choice, the 2 rupee per month ( well 100 rupee for some 50 channels) that I am paying is really worth it when it comes to " Comedy News Network - India Based N..... " any suggestions for the last N ?

Six reasons to ponder at Sixty

Somewhere I chanced upon an article "Why India is better than Pakistan in its 60 years after Independence"... There may be again some comparisons between the two as India recently went through "60 years of Indian constitution" - i.e of 60 years of being a federal democratic republic, but there is a fundamental issue here because in the Islamic "republic" of Pakistan , things shaped out quite different -- The first Constitution of Pakistan was adopted in 1956, but was suspended in 1958 by General Ayub Khan. The Constitution of 1973 — suspended in 1977, by Zia-ul-Haq, but re-instated in 1985 — ......

I am not going to spend my time comparing India with that joke (or rather headache) called Pakistan, may be a slightly more interesting one (to compare) would be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_(1789-1849) ...

So now, something got me thinking - What has kept India together (with issues of course, but not fatal ones despite its billion plus population and despite foolish Governmental decisions from Nehru to Manmohan ) and yet liberal at the same time.. And here are my six reasons ( Its perhaps a combination of some or all of these...a combo or AND, OR ,...)

1) The 6000 year foundation ... : The 6000 of course is not an exact number, may be close, but I wanted it to rhyme too :) - I leave it to the archeologists ( interesting sidenote- http://www.dailypioneer.com/228303/Saraswati-flows-on-in-ASI-records.html ) ... and yes, there were wars within, but think about it, even wars were with rules.. no fighting at night, the charioteer should not kill the cavalry, no hitting "below the knees".. Those who flouted it in Mahabharata had to deal with the wheel of Karma ...

2) Hinduism . : The fact that the majority religion was a very tolerant and liberal one... well sometimes I felt that it was too tolerant of other religions and somewhat harsh on itself (thats perhaps a big topic for later).

Delivered on a Jan 16 th , its worth to quote a full paragraph from

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_3/Lectures_from_Colombo_to_Almora/First_Public_Lecture_in_the_East_(Colombo)

So much I have seen, and so far those of you who are students of the history of races are already aware of this fact. The debt which the world owes to our Motherland is immense. Taking country with country, there is not one race on this earth to which the world owes so much as to the patient Hindu, the mild Hindu. "The mild Hindu" sometimes is used as an expression of reproach; but if ever a reproach concealed a wonderful truth, it is in the term, "the mild Hindu", who has always been the blessed child of God. Civilisations have arisen in other parts of the world. In ancient times and in modern times, great ideas have emanated from strong and great races. In ancient and in modern times, wonderful ideas have been carried forward from one race to another. In ancient and in modern times, seeds of great truth and power have been cast abroad by the advancing tides of national life; but mark you, my friends, it has been always with the blast of war trumpets and with the march of embattled cohorts. Each idea had to be soaked in a deluge of blood. Each idea had to wade through the blood of millions of our fellow-beings. Each word of power had to be followed by the groans of millions, by the wails of orphans, by the tears of widows. This, in the main, other nations have taught; but India has for thousands of years peacefully existed. Here activity prevailed when even Greece did not exist, when Rome was not thought of, when the very fathers of the modern Europeans lived in the forests and painted themselves blue. Even earlier, when history has no record, and tradition dares not peer into the gloom of that intense past, even from then until now, ideas after ideas have marched out from her, but every word has been spoken with a blessing behind it and peace before it. We, of all nations of the world, have never been a conquering race, and that blessing is on our head, and therefore we live.

I wonder if I really need to continue, for the main reason(s) I guess is aleady clear in that paragraph, but stil for the sake of the rhyming six, here are the other 4

3) Diversity: I think its in the very blood of Indians to accept diveristy... be it languages , or philosophies or even.. political parties

4) Evolution rather than revolution : Do we have the equivalent of a French or a Russian or an American "revolution"... Nope and I think its again due to the fact that we as a Nation are more comfortable with evolution ... and hey, we have rebirths, so whats the hurry !

5) Family Values : With the foundation strong at home, I guess its easier to extend it to the society and the Nation... in fact even to "vasudhaiva kuTumbakam" or "yatra viswam bhavatyekaneedam", if only others too agreed

6) External factors: Though not fully desirable, a Pakistan, China and Bangladesh around us, and war-torn Sri Lanka near us, and attempts to thrust some aggressive ideologies on us, may have to some degree strengthened our bond

! vandE maataram !

Photo from the web - http://rlv.zcache.com/bharat_mata_bharat_mata_tshirt-p235109234917626630qixv_400.jpg

catching up

It has been an inactive 100 days or so on the blog - and oh well, perhaps a much less active year that passed by... Here I am, trying to "regroup" myself , gain back some of the lost momentum.. Looks like these days one has to view life from an "escalator perspective" rather than a "staircase perspective" - they keep going whether you plan to climb or not

Wink of a year and tweets have become much more popular, and I quite missed the tide... , trying to catch up now - http://twitter.com/drisyadrisya . In fact I wanted to do a blogpost during Sankranti ... kind of to tell myself that its a transition to a bit more active blogging (among reviving some other activities too) - but that was not to be.. and here I am on the "Republic" day going "re-public" again ... Having faced the starting trouble, the easiest way out has been to reformat the look :) .. but I promise myself , that substance will follow !

Thekkady boat tragedy - follow up post

As mentioned in the comments section of my previous post, here are couple of "Jalakanyaka" pictures from my collection - on occasions when the seating / standing should have been regular / uniform (Note: click on pics to enlarge )

1. Difficult to say from this angle, but still if one focuses on the backside..... is there an in-born tilt visible ?

2. The ill-fated boat is the green one ( second one ). Do we see an extra dip on its right side ?

Waiting to happen

A post after about three and half months - its not-so-happy a thing that its about a tragedy.. but yet, can't resist putting out certain unhappy truths that I faced --- thankfully for me, those did not transform into unhappy experiences, but unfortunately not for the victims of the third boat tragedy in Kerala within about seven years

Less than a month before the Sep30 tragedy, U2 and I have been on a trip there - an extended Onam vacation and much more... A few things ( which have probably been now reported in the media) was glaring during the boat trip ...

1) Right from the ticket queue, there is no guidance whatsoever of how things work ( for example you realize that one person can only take max 2 tickets, only when you reach the end of the queue ) , which boat to board, choice of upper deck/lower deck ( or may be those choices are already sold out for "black" or to those with influence)

2) Once you are in the boat too, there is nobody controlling the seating arrangement - I don't think our ticket was ever checked once in the boat, or to see if proper people are seated in the proper deck (So even if more than allotted people stay in upper deck, "nobody" knows .

3) They supposedly issue a stipulated number of tickets for each boat.. but except one time when our boat appeared overcrowded and seatless, nobody asked people to board the boats which they are supposed to ( which if you see closely on the ticket is printed somewhere on the ticket, but you don't know that its the name of the boat until you see the boat)

4) There were no instructions ( like don't crowd on one side), or what to do in case of a problem etc etc.... In fact an old man who was late to board the boat did not get a seat, and so he was seated in the driver's cabin - and alas, the fellow was non-stop lecturing about kerala politics (in Malayalam of course) ALL-THROUGH the journey to the drivers assistant and the latter listening most of the time, occasionally replying or giving him the next topic to talk about

5) And for lifejackets - i was curious to see if there were any - and they were, a few of them, stacked up nicely and tied up in the drivers cabinet...

The travellers were just focused on the joy of the ride and no hardly ever complained. At one point when at the end of the trip, there were elephants on one side ( haaaa... some "wild life" after such a long wait), people did crowd to one side and our boat "Vanajyotsna" did tilt to one side a bit , but I kind of said aloud semi-jokingly ( the other half with the intention that people notice) that the boat is tilted to one side... - ours did not reach a danger level tilt at any point.

Among the theories of the boat collapse, all ultimately lead to neglect of authorities as root cause
If it were overcrowding on one side, couldn't have been avoided by not allowing more-than-capacity and instructing people not to do that ? Also "boat design not suited for all crowding on side" When it says "60 people capacity", shouldn't it be sand-bag tested with all possibilities including this one-side possibility ? And nothing more to say about the possibility of mistake by the inexperienced driver.

I leave this post with some picture of the boat in the accident - Jalakanyaka - taken by chance while on Vanajyotsna .

The pic above shows the case elephants on one side, and people moving towards that side - and you can see the boat tilted a bit. Whether it is within limits or not, I am not an expert to comment. Notice also one fellow hanging out of the boat, quite clear that there is nobody to control

And here is another one... ( click pics to enlarge)

Rite and Rong

The relationship of editor to author is knife to throat. (Quote: Source unknown )

News that is a bit old, but worth reading for two reasons.... - readers can guess both

http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/News/Article.aspx?id=1005194

Ashtanga yoga’s founder dies at 93
Published:May 24, 2009

Krishna Pattabhi Jois, a prominent and influential yoga teacher who drew a global following, which included Western celebrities like Madonna and Sting, died this week at his home in the southern Indian city of Mysore at the age of 93.

Known to his followers simply as guruji, a term of respect for teachers, Jois had an ulcer in his throat , according to Sharath Rangaswamy, his grandson and the director of his yoga institute.
In the late ’30s, long before yoga studios sprang up in malls and gyms , Jois began teaching yoga at the Sanskrit University of Mysore , according to a biography on his website. He eventually opened his own school, the Ashtanga Yoga Institute .

The son of a Brahmin (priest) and astrologer, Jois was inculcated with ancient Hindu teachings from an early age. He was first exposed to yoga when he was 12.

Jois popularised the school of yoga known as Ashtanga, characterised by fast-paced exercises that involve pronounced, but controlled, breathing while holding varying postures.

Jois’s first exposure to the West came through the 1967 book Yoga Self-Taught. Since then, Westerners have sought him out in their hundreds.

Although he was not fluent in English, Jois knew enough to make himself understood to his students. —

© 2009 The New York Times News Service

secularism definition

Note: contribution from U2 :-) ... among the many forwards in the IT field... So after all its not as passive within the ITites !

Look who is with the Congress !

1) Nagma - Nagma to campaign for Congress even if denied ticket

Born of a Muslim mother and a Hindu father, but the real connection is In 2007, she finally accepted Christ as her Saviour ... The anomaly of a Hindu man marrying a Muslim lady has hence been compensated for ... Amen

2) Azhar - Azharuddin to bat for Congress in Moradabad

In addition to the infamous match fixing betrayal of Nation, his claim to fame is having divorced his wife and married ( and converted ) a Sindhi.... and lol.. ex-girl friend of Salman Khan

which brings us to

3) Salman - Salman urges people to vote for Congress

Like a Salmon his migratory ( read as one woman to another ) skills are well knows, and is quite an epitome of al-taqiya ( sans the compulsion part..... well, biological compulsions, may be )