The following are the news Items which I have been reading and fascinated or disturbed me,
1 ) Michael Jackson
It was during 1991 and that was the time when MTV came to India. I remember in amazement watching his "Black or White " Video. Right from the beginning , where Macaulay Kulkin kid to the end where the faces change dynamically , it was brilliantly done.
There was so much build up for the days when the videos were going to be release and the next one was "Remember the Time" with Eddie Murphy, I used to watch it so many times and loved it , first time in my life I was able to recite the songs (but I could never dance !!).
After seeing these songs I had the opportunity to see Thriller , its a 4 min song and there was a movie in it. He revolutionized Music videos and in his black or white , all the different dances are from countries , which are predominantly non-white was also a nice concept.
The eventual truth is , everyone dies, but he was coming back from his exile and was starting his second life , he may be a guy with a peter pan syndrome or anything that he is accused of , but we should also understand lot of people took advantage of him and got all his money.
A guy who had sold more number of Albums in the world , died as a Debtor , life is tough and strange.
Let him rest in peace, atleast I would have hoped that he died in a stage after performing atleast a couple of shows to prove that he still has the power to pull people.
2 ) Donation to Thirupathi Temple
There are somethings which infuriate me and make me really mad , one of which was the donation of Rs 45 crore of diamond studded headgear to Lord Venkateshwara of Thirupathi by a Minister.
It consists of 30 kg of gold and 35,554 round diamonds of high quality. Each Belgium cut diamond is processed in-house and carefully handpicked before being set in the ancient manufacturing technique of closed setting.
Lets analyze some irrefutable facts about India
1/4th of Indian population live under Rs 12 per day
77 % of Indian population live under Rs 20 per day
42.5 % of Indian children are malnourished
World Health Organization, states "that about 49 per cent of the world's underweight children, 34 per cent of the world's stunted children and 46 per cent of the world's wasted children, live in India."
I have to state this as per record , Karnataka's minister for tourism and leading industrialist Gali Janardhan Reddy who donated this crown to the temple , is a businessman and he gives work o around 20,000 people , which by itself is a biggest gift, which you can give to god.
In Bible there is concept of Gleaning , which means that all farmers even if the harvest is very good , they will leave a side of their harvest for poor people. For example, ancient Jewish communities required that farmers not reap all the way to the edges of a field so as to leave some for the poor and for strangers. But we give it to god , and this is not the first crown to the god , this is eighth one and the largest one presented to the god.
I have the following questions
1 ) Did the god ask for it ?
2 ) As Rajani says in his song , if there is more money , you should protect it , now there will be more care and protection given to the crown rather than the god itself ?
3 ) For the temple also , why don't they keep it for one year in Gods head and auction it off , there are tons of crazy people who will buy that for 100 crores (Diamonds are worthless after you buy them , but when you add a hint of god the value goes nuts) .
4 ) There was a similar story in which a lady from Swiss donated around 2.4 crores to the Rameshwaram Temple , they bought shares and stocks of the Electricty plant and that plant is using that money to provide electricity and have a lot of people at work , isn't what the money is all about ? Why does god require all this ?
5 ) What can be done with 45 Crores
How many schools , Colleges could have been built ?
How many Hospitals could have been built ?
How many Electicity Grids , cleaner sanitary facilities for people , how many farmers were dying because of no water and food , can this not be used for that ?
Elder care facilities.
I am sure god agrees with me , doing the above mentioned would have raised his asset level much more than showing off that he gave 45 rore to god. Isn't this considered as a bribe , I got something because of you , so I am giving a share to you ? or is he feeling guilty that he had gotten the money the wrong way , obvously he is an Indian minister , and they have absoluetly no accountablity.
3 ) Pirabakaran
I don't know what to say about him , he was a fascinating guy who had his pet Cheetah in all his pictures.
But he is a guy who makes sure that he hides behind his people and make them martyrs. I remember reading an India Today Article , which had said that during March of 1991 , there was a secret meeting between Rajiv and Pirabakaran and Rajiv had assured him of doing his best for his fight.
But two months later , they assasinated him. If you read interviews of Political leaders of that time , its enlightening to know that lot of Indian leaders opposed to India's involovement there. Except for Politicians and obviously MGR because he was born there and had a soft corner. Karunanidhi as per the LTTE was more of an oppurtunist rather than a helper for their cause.
Pirabakaran suffered from depression , mental anxiety and he was an insecure person , also a person who has lived his life always hiding and not trusting others , it would have been very difficult for him to lead a normal life , everytime there was an incident he used to hide himself and use his people as martyrs.
There were some muslims who had leaked information and he made sure that there were no muslims in his area.
But inspire of all this , its interesting to note that his face was clean shaven. Never know what really happened to him , might be a conspiracy theory , Tamil newspaper had it saying that he escaped and India helped , might be true , might be bogus.
Lets atleast wish that , let them have a good time from now onwards, even now they are planning for the agreement which was signed by Rajiv on 1987. Which the LTTE didn't accept , how things change and thank goodness it changed.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Always insist on Backup
This weekend I had decided to install Ubuntu Linux in my home laptop. I have a 12.3 inch dell 700m laptop , which I bought in 2006 , its old and its becoming rusty. I have had Windows for a while and heard some good reviews on Ubuntu and wanted to try installing this piece.
So installing the software went like a piece of cake. I had to install XP First and then I have that as a backup , in case if something goes wrong with the drivers. Since the machine didn't have an internet connection, I had downloaded all the drivers in a different laptop ( we have more processing power in our house than an average reactor in India , around 5 or 6 laptops, an itouch , ipod(s) etc).
At that time my roommate arrived and I knew that he had an USB Drive which was attached to his key. I either misplace mine or give it to someone who will never return. So this is where the story gets interesting, I got the USB drive did not use it and then totally forgot about it.
This morning when he asked his key , thats when I started to look for it. One of most frustrating things is when you search for something and it never sees the light of it.
I searched for around 4 hrs !! But even that had a good intention , I threw away a lot of stuff , was able to do laundry and ate my world famous Khadi with my equally famous Black channa ( I have the recipe for this in my earlier post).
But at the time of this writing (around 11:18 PM ) , we have not found it yet. The funny thing is my roomie does not have a Backup KEY !!! . So the lesson of this experience is "ALWAYS HAVE BACKUP". So I had to go to walmart and get a duplicate house key for him. AAA is coming on Monday to make a key for him.
This happens to me all the time ,but in USB drive , I do have a strong feeling that there are aliens who are coming to my house and taking them with them. I have been missing my 4 Gig USB Drive also for a while, I had seen lying around near my TV and then two days later gone ( you might ask if you had seen it lying around why can't u pick that up , if I had you would not have had the privilege of reading this blog , everything happens for a reason).
So if Aliens had taken by USB, what would they do. What do I have in my USB drive , I have pictures , Music and documents. Thats it!!. Why would Aliens be interested in this (unless if these aliens are illegal aliens :)) .
I always like the approach of searching for something and then finding it , eventhough I have been advised that is not the correct approach.
Also , its so difficult to do run a trace in my memory , it was less 12 hrs and my memory does not have each and every step , because my mind was somewhere and my concentration was in a different Planet. I remember taking the USB out ,but don't remember where i put it next. I am not sure if there is a way to Jog up memory.
I remember a Story by Sujatha, its about a guy who goes to a PSychiatrist and tells him , some hot chick gave me her number , which I remembered at that time now I dont. Can you please traverse in my memory to find out that number. The Pshyciatrist agrees and when he hypnotizes him , he is able to get all the dirty details of the patient !!. He is also gets to know the number of the hot chick.
So basically it points out that we do have a backup memory in our mind , but we don't have a direct way of reproducing it ( its not like a program in your DVD ). How the world would be , if they had a product like this ?? anyone's mystery , but memory is always a funny thing.
The Lesson of the Day , backups , backups and more backups.
Finally today we found the keys. One of the funniest comment which I hear is , it will always be in the last place you look , what kind of a dumb comment, if you find it there , why you want to look more place ???.
That moment was a EUREKA moment , the recliner I was sitting , I was checking in one direction , once I checked in the other direction I found it.
The good thing about this search was I cleaned up our house. Moved the fridge , the Gas stove (atleast if I am not able to find the keys , wanted to check if someone has misplaced a million $$).
There was a Tamil movie, the story goes like this the hero and the heroine meet in the train. The hero loses his key and the heroine asks him , where is the key and he says I will find it by whistling and he whistles and the key replies back.
I bought that product, that was one of the most annoying products ever done. It doesn't understand that we are talking and it beeps all the time. Its better to search for the keys once , rather than getting annoyed every 4 mins.
So installing the software went like a piece of cake. I had to install XP First and then I have that as a backup , in case if something goes wrong with the drivers. Since the machine didn't have an internet connection, I had downloaded all the drivers in a different laptop ( we have more processing power in our house than an average reactor in India , around 5 or 6 laptops, an itouch , ipod(s) etc).
At that time my roommate arrived and I knew that he had an USB Drive which was attached to his key. I either misplace mine or give it to someone who will never return. So this is where the story gets interesting, I got the USB drive did not use it and then totally forgot about it.
This morning when he asked his key , thats when I started to look for it. One of most frustrating things is when you search for something and it never sees the light of it.
I searched for around 4 hrs !! But even that had a good intention , I threw away a lot of stuff , was able to do laundry and ate my world famous Khadi with my equally famous Black channa ( I have the recipe for this in my earlier post).
But at the time of this writing (around 11:18 PM ) , we have not found it yet. The funny thing is my roomie does not have a Backup KEY !!! . So the lesson of this experience is "ALWAYS HAVE BACKUP". So I had to go to walmart and get a duplicate house key for him. AAA is coming on Monday to make a key for him.
This happens to me all the time ,but in USB drive , I do have a strong feeling that there are aliens who are coming to my house and taking them with them. I have been missing my 4 Gig USB Drive also for a while, I had seen lying around near my TV and then two days later gone ( you might ask if you had seen it lying around why can't u pick that up , if I had you would not have had the privilege of reading this blog , everything happens for a reason).
So if Aliens had taken by USB, what would they do. What do I have in my USB drive , I have pictures , Music and documents. Thats it!!. Why would Aliens be interested in this (unless if these aliens are illegal aliens :)) .
I always like the approach of searching for something and then finding it , eventhough I have been advised that is not the correct approach.
Also , its so difficult to do run a trace in my memory , it was less 12 hrs and my memory does not have each and every step , because my mind was somewhere and my concentration was in a different Planet. I remember taking the USB out ,but don't remember where i put it next. I am not sure if there is a way to Jog up memory.
I remember a Story by Sujatha, its about a guy who goes to a PSychiatrist and tells him , some hot chick gave me her number , which I remembered at that time now I dont. Can you please traverse in my memory to find out that number. The Pshyciatrist agrees and when he hypnotizes him , he is able to get all the dirty details of the patient !!. He is also gets to know the number of the hot chick.
So basically it points out that we do have a backup memory in our mind , but we don't have a direct way of reproducing it ( its not like a program in your DVD ). How the world would be , if they had a product like this ?? anyone's mystery , but memory is always a funny thing.
The Lesson of the Day , backups , backups and more backups.
Finally today we found the keys. One of the funniest comment which I hear is , it will always be in the last place you look , what kind of a dumb comment, if you find it there , why you want to look more place ???.
That moment was a EUREKA moment , the recliner I was sitting , I was checking in one direction , once I checked in the other direction I found it.
The good thing about this search was I cleaned up our house. Moved the fridge , the Gas stove (atleast if I am not able to find the keys , wanted to check if someone has misplaced a million $$).
There was a Tamil movie, the story goes like this the hero and the heroine meet in the train. The hero loses his key and the heroine asks him , where is the key and he says I will find it by whistling and he whistles and the key replies back.
I bought that product, that was one of the most annoying products ever done. It doesn't understand that we are talking and it beeps all the time. Its better to search for the keys once , rather than getting annoyed every 4 mins.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Many Lives , Many Masters
There are some books which we read and we think this is absolutely bogus and what a waste of time and energy. But some books really capture your imagination , there are so many things in this world which we don't have an answer.
For example the Pyramids and particularly the Giza took 22 years to complete, but based on the number of stones there, a stone has to be moved every 9 seconds to ensure that it is complete in 22 years. We are talking about people who didn't have much idea of writing ( so obviously not much in planning !!). So who built it , it is still a mystery.
I happened to hear good reviews about this book and I try to get it from the library but this book was damaged so they no longer circulate this book. So I went to the next best option , to go to Borders and get an idea of what this book is about and what I can learn from this book.
I finished the book in 2 hrs :). Its totally 200+ plus pages, but really a page turner. I started to read the book and was fascinated by the stories and very elegant writing by the Author. Brian Weiss, the Author of this series is a very distinguished Psychologist , jewish , father of two kids (one kid who died in 23 days after birth) , an intelligent wife (Not only his wife , but she helps him during his sessions and also a social worker).
The Premise of the book is simple, a patient goes and see a psychologist and she says she has Trauma , bad dreams and unable to concentrate. So the Doctor gives her the usual treatment and then puts her into Hypnosis. The Girls name is Catherine. She is a Catholic girl , who had a abusive father and her parents got married because her mother became pregnant and had to marry. So that resentment was always there with the father.
Catherine is the heroine of the story, she starts to tell about all the abuses that were happening when she was little , including the fact that the father was touching "down there" when she was 3 and when the house was on fire , he asked his daughter to go and get his collection of Stamps. Which she justifies saying it is a good move , because I am faster.
In a simple world this would be the end of the story, but this is not simple and catherine is not a simple girl. When she talks about her past , she recollects something way way in the past. She was talking about her previous dimensions in the planet.
The following are the observations which are quite remarkable
There was a question asked to Sri Sri Ravishankar , based on the theory that if rebirth is because of energy transformation , we have so many people in this world , but there were far less people earlier , how did that happen. Sri Sri had an excellent reply, "its only energy, not people there are so many places where animals are dying , birds , insects are going completly out of existence, they all in the next birth can become humans".
The Actual crux of the story happens in the middle , because after sometime the story becomes monotonus , she will be a maid or a grandmom or a soldier and will be witnessing a wedding or she will be in deathbed. Once she dies her energy is moved up and then it waits for the transformation and coming back , this is where our Hinduism comes into picture.
Whatever things we didn't do completly or what we deserve we will get it in our next birth. It doesn't matter that you will not have any idea whether you were a monster or a gentleman in the current birth, you still carry your luggage from previous births.
When you are waiting for your turn, the masters are the ones who address the soul , they take each and every birth to identify what would have happened differently to make things different. For example , in one birth she says I should have been more forgiving. In another, I should be more demanding answers for war , because War is never an answer etc.
Plato, the fifth century Athenian philosopher , who devised the platonic view , which goes like this "Knowledge is recollection and he also believed that soul was immaterial and existed before it inhabited a body". When Human beings came to know something , it is because our souls knew before they were embodied.
Reading this book reminded me of the movie which I saw. The Movie is "Groundhog Day", this movie I saw because it happens near Pittsburgh( I Lived in Pittsburgh at that time).
Basically the movie has one theme , everyday is a groundhog day for the hero till he becomes a good human being at least for a day.
Our live is a bigger version of this, we go on and on till we get it correct. Also there are no strangers in our lives, all the people you meet where with you in your earlier birth.
Sounds dumb , but I cannot prove or disprove it. May be I should go for Hypnosis.
For example the Pyramids and particularly the Giza took 22 years to complete, but based on the number of stones there, a stone has to be moved every 9 seconds to ensure that it is complete in 22 years. We are talking about people who didn't have much idea of writing ( so obviously not much in planning !!). So who built it , it is still a mystery.
I happened to hear good reviews about this book and I try to get it from the library but this book was damaged so they no longer circulate this book. So I went to the next best option , to go to Borders and get an idea of what this book is about and what I can learn from this book.
I finished the book in 2 hrs :). Its totally 200+ plus pages, but really a page turner. I started to read the book and was fascinated by the stories and very elegant writing by the Author. Brian Weiss, the Author of this series is a very distinguished Psychologist , jewish , father of two kids (one kid who died in 23 days after birth) , an intelligent wife (Not only his wife , but she helps him during his sessions and also a social worker).
The Premise of the book is simple, a patient goes and see a psychologist and she says she has Trauma , bad dreams and unable to concentrate. So the Doctor gives her the usual treatment and then puts her into Hypnosis. The Girls name is Catherine. She is a Catholic girl , who had a abusive father and her parents got married because her mother became pregnant and had to marry. So that resentment was always there with the father.
Catherine is the heroine of the story, she starts to tell about all the abuses that were happening when she was little , including the fact that the father was touching "down there" when she was 3 and when the house was on fire , he asked his daughter to go and get his collection of Stamps. Which she justifies saying it is a good move , because I am faster.
In a simple world this would be the end of the story, but this is not simple and catherine is not a simple girl. When she talks about her past , she recollects something way way in the past. She was talking about her previous dimensions in the planet.
The following are the observations which are quite remarkable
- Catherine says totally she has had 87 births or janmams in this earth.
- Catherine is Catholic and she has no idea or re-birth and she does not subscribe to that fact nor she has even talked to anyone about this.
- In the Old Testament there were passages which talked about rebirth , but they were taken out (because the victor always writes history!!).
- The thoughts in her mind are not consistent , she travels back in time as if she is travelling from New york to New jersey.
- In Most of her time , she has always been either a maid or a servant or an army soldier. No cleopatra or Napolean !!! . This begs us the question where would they be now.
- The people she is sorrunded now are the same people who are there with her in her previous births (this part is the most disturbing item for me).
- The most important part of her talk (during hypnosis) she talks about her previous dimensions and then she dies, whe she dies she is waiting for her masters. These Masters are the ones which we really define as god. We cannot define how many masters are there or how they work or when do they come to us or how do they cater to certain people. But one thing is certain , there are lot of colors when you die.
- Almost all her stories have a wedding , poverty and death. This actually makes us feel how much we have grown in 21st century atleast we eliminated one of the evils.
- Catherine has clear view in her past life of all for all persons she has met , but in her current form she is not married , and she is not able to see her husband clearly.
There was a question asked to Sri Sri Ravishankar , based on the theory that if rebirth is because of energy transformation , we have so many people in this world , but there were far less people earlier , how did that happen. Sri Sri had an excellent reply, "its only energy, not people there are so many places where animals are dying , birds , insects are going completly out of existence, they all in the next birth can become humans".
The Actual crux of the story happens in the middle , because after sometime the story becomes monotonus , she will be a maid or a grandmom or a soldier and will be witnessing a wedding or she will be in deathbed. Once she dies her energy is moved up and then it waits for the transformation and coming back , this is where our Hinduism comes into picture.
Whatever things we didn't do completly or what we deserve we will get it in our next birth. It doesn't matter that you will not have any idea whether you were a monster or a gentleman in the current birth, you still carry your luggage from previous births.
When you are waiting for your turn, the masters are the ones who address the soul , they take each and every birth to identify what would have happened differently to make things different. For example , in one birth she says I should have been more forgiving. In another, I should be more demanding answers for war , because War is never an answer etc.
Plato, the fifth century Athenian philosopher , who devised the platonic view , which goes like this "Knowledge is recollection and he also believed that soul was immaterial and existed before it inhabited a body". When Human beings came to know something , it is because our souls knew before they were embodied.
Reading this book reminded me of the movie which I saw. The Movie is "Groundhog Day", this movie I saw because it happens near Pittsburgh( I Lived in Pittsburgh at that time).
Basically the movie has one theme , everyday is a groundhog day for the hero till he becomes a good human being at least for a day.
Our live is a bigger version of this, we go on and on till we get it correct. Also there are no strangers in our lives, all the people you meet where with you in your earlier birth.
Sounds dumb , but I cannot prove or disprove it. May be I should go for Hypnosis.
Imponderable Questions
These questions have always really bothered me , not sure if someone can provide answers
1 ) Why does it take more to fly from east coast to west coast ,and less while returning ?
2 ) From Trenton Train Station to Philly Airport it is $9 , but when returning it is $10. Why ??
3 ) In my IPOD , I subscribe to a podcast and create a smart list for that podcast so that I can hear it continuously but if I start hearing a podcast I have to complete it , I cannot delete that forever , even in Itunes , why ???
4 ) Apple vs Microsoft Ads , sure Apple is better in ads, one ad is excellent , 2 is fine , 5 is ok , but even now ? common guys most Apple users are geeks or nerds and if your advertising only involves bashing Microsoft , trust me you are degrading yourself
5 ) Why is Seinfeld funny now also ?
6 ) How come women travel such a long distance to cut their hair and with only their special hairstylist eventhough they hardly cut some strands. (and why is it so expensive!!).
7 ) What Highlights compliment me ??
1 ) Why does it take more to fly from east coast to west coast ,and less while returning ?
2 ) From Trenton Train Station to Philly Airport it is $9 , but when returning it is $10. Why ??
3 ) In my IPOD , I subscribe to a podcast and create a smart list for that podcast so that I can hear it continuously but if I start hearing a podcast I have to complete it , I cannot delete that forever , even in Itunes , why ???
4 ) Apple vs Microsoft Ads , sure Apple is better in ads, one ad is excellent , 2 is fine , 5 is ok , but even now ? common guys most Apple users are geeks or nerds and if your advertising only involves bashing Microsoft , trust me you are degrading yourself
5 ) Why is Seinfeld funny now also ?
6 ) How come women travel such a long distance to cut their hair and with only their special hairstylist eventhough they hardly cut some strands. (and why is it so expensive!!).
7 ) What Highlights compliment me ??
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Banned Books
Banned Books are always a fascinating topic for me. For some of the books , I really wonder why they really banned them. If these books were not banned , we would not even been talking about it now.
The best example for that is "Satanic verses" by Salman Rushdie. I was in India when this book came out and India was the first country to ban this book. So after I came to the US , and started to go the library regularly, I got and started to read this book. This was one of the most stupidest , boring book that I have read till that time. It was dragging so much , that i was not even able to complete it. This was the first book that I was did not complete. There are some parts which we can relate like the Incident where Amitabh Bacchan got injured in the shooting and the entire India was praying for it . Indian Prime minister went and saw him , which was the part where the good stuff dies. I am really surprized that they banned this book , if they had not banned this book, everyday there are hundreds of crappy books which come and this would gone to the bottom shelf. I don't know why he wrote this book. Rushdie once apologized for writing this book and took it back.
Rushdie's earlier book "Midnight's children " was pretty interesting since I can related to lot of stuff and I love history. This was the story about two kids which were born in the dawn of India's independence and they grow along with the country.
The Book about Shivaji
This was another book which had created such a huge hue and cry in India and not even sure if it was published or not. This book had abysmal reviews. But they made it popular by banning this book. Even people were killed for this. In India peoples lives don't have any value, for anything someone will be burnt , killed , stabbed or wounded.
Jewel of Medina
This is another book , after reading the book completely, I came to the conclusion that this was very poorly written with no imagination, Aisha is such an important character and the only thing you read in the book is only her jealousy and all the marriages and the separate huts. If Random house had published this book , it would have gone through some deep shelves in libraries and most of the copies would have returned back to the author. The Author is also planning to write a Sequel for this.
If you really want to know more about Mohammad and Aisha , you can read "Heirs of Mohammad" , which in one chapter covers more information and provides a lot of interesting stuff.
In India , during the release of Rajani's movie Annamalai, I remember there was a rumor that this movie is going to be banned because it said something about Jayalalitha. But now we know that Rajani was just a dumb actor who just repeating what the screenwriter had written and he didn't mean anything.
The best example for that is "Satanic verses" by Salman Rushdie. I was in India when this book came out and India was the first country to ban this book. So after I came to the US , and started to go the library regularly, I got and started to read this book. This was one of the most stupidest , boring book that I have read till that time. It was dragging so much , that i was not even able to complete it. This was the first book that I was did not complete. There are some parts which we can relate like the Incident where Amitabh Bacchan got injured in the shooting and the entire India was praying for it . Indian Prime minister went and saw him , which was the part where the good stuff dies. I am really surprized that they banned this book , if they had not banned this book, everyday there are hundreds of crappy books which come and this would gone to the bottom shelf. I don't know why he wrote this book. Rushdie once apologized for writing this book and took it back.
Rushdie's earlier book "Midnight's children " was pretty interesting since I can related to lot of stuff and I love history. This was the story about two kids which were born in the dawn of India's independence and they grow along with the country.
The Book about Shivaji
This was another book which had created such a huge hue and cry in India and not even sure if it was published or not. This book had abysmal reviews. But they made it popular by banning this book. Even people were killed for this. In India peoples lives don't have any value, for anything someone will be burnt , killed , stabbed or wounded.
Jewel of Medina
This is another book , after reading the book completely, I came to the conclusion that this was very poorly written with no imagination, Aisha is such an important character and the only thing you read in the book is only her jealousy and all the marriages and the separate huts. If Random house had published this book , it would have gone through some deep shelves in libraries and most of the copies would have returned back to the author. The Author is also planning to write a Sequel for this.
If you really want to know more about Mohammad and Aisha , you can read "Heirs of Mohammad" , which in one chapter covers more information and provides a lot of interesting stuff.
In India , during the release of Rajani's movie Annamalai, I remember there was a rumor that this movie is going to be banned because it said something about Jayalalitha. But now we know that Rajani was just a dumb actor who just repeating what the screenwriter had written and he didn't mean anything.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Rajani's Film 6 to 60
I watched Rajani's film Aaril irunthu Arupathu Varai.(From 6 till 60). One of the 70's films of that time. We have always watched Rajani's latest crappy films(Sivaji !!! , Kuselan ) and when we see a film where we see him really act.
Lot of emotions involved in this movie and how small things make a lot of difference. 1970's are a time in Tamil cinema lot of new things were tried and poverty become a topic to be successful.
This film a favorite of Rajani and his acting abilities started to fail once he became super star, he started to have a thick cover around him and he didn't find the need to come out of it. Obviously he made his money.
The Movie starts with a very happy family and the eldest son is 6 years old. As usual the father dies and the mom also dies after that. The eldest son takes the entire responsibility of handling the family and starts to work at that time. He starts to work for Rs 90 a month and gets to work and reads in his spare time.
His sister marries a rich guy and his brother graduates in first class and then his brothers leave him. His wife dies and then he becomes rich and famous.
When he had a life , he had money , he had money but no life after that. The second half was too much of a drag and wondering how things go from bad to worse and then to awful and then its all rosy.
Later in the career he had "Dharmadurai" which involves 3 brothers, but the second half becomes a typical Super Star film.
I would not even noticed or wrote about this if this was a Kamal movie , since this was Rajani's movie (the guy who says a lot of other things, but make sure his wallet full ) , he is a preacher not a practicer and makes sure to use all the dumb people of Tamil Nadu.
Cho in his movie "Mohd-bin-Tuglaq" has a sentence "Makkal Muttalkal" , People are Idiots and Rajani is the one who understood that and makes all his money.
Lot of emotions involved in this movie and how small things make a lot of difference. 1970's are a time in Tamil cinema lot of new things were tried and poverty become a topic to be successful.
This film a favorite of Rajani and his acting abilities started to fail once he became super star, he started to have a thick cover around him and he didn't find the need to come out of it. Obviously he made his money.
The Movie starts with a very happy family and the eldest son is 6 years old. As usual the father dies and the mom also dies after that. The eldest son takes the entire responsibility of handling the family and starts to work at that time. He starts to work for Rs 90 a month and gets to work and reads in his spare time.
His sister marries a rich guy and his brother graduates in first class and then his brothers leave him. His wife dies and then he becomes rich and famous.
When he had a life , he had money , he had money but no life after that. The second half was too much of a drag and wondering how things go from bad to worse and then to awful and then its all rosy.
Later in the career he had "Dharmadurai" which involves 3 brothers, but the second half becomes a typical Super Star film.
I would not even noticed or wrote about this if this was a Kamal movie , since this was Rajani's movie (the guy who says a lot of other things, but make sure his wallet full ) , he is a preacher not a practicer and makes sure to use all the dumb people of Tamil Nadu.
Cho in his movie "Mohd-bin-Tuglaq" has a sentence "Makkal Muttalkal" , People are Idiots and Rajani is the one who understood that and makes all his money.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
selling Potato Peeler , rest is history
I heard this story in Talk radio this morning and read about Joe Ades in NYTimes(my Favorite paper).
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/nyregion/03ades.html
Such an interesting person having a house in Manhattan, married 4 times and divorced 3 times, kids in a good position. All he did was sell Potato Peelers in Manhattan and he didn't even have permit to sell them.
It really made me stop and look at amazement at this guy. The money he should have made and that too dining in an expensive restaurant, the waiters who were working in that restaurant might have walked by him in his streetside location and would have even bought stuff from him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/nyregion/03ades.html
Such an interesting person having a house in Manhattan, married 4 times and divorced 3 times, kids in a good position. All he did was sell Potato Peelers in Manhattan and he didn't even have permit to sell them.
It really made me stop and look at amazement at this guy. The money he should have made and that too dining in an expensive restaurant, the waiters who were working in that restaurant might have walked by him in his streetside location and would have even bought stuff from him.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
My Favorite Scene
Movie : Thank you for Smoking
Actors : Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor and his son (in the movie ) Joey
Scene : Nick teaches his kid how he is able to propagate his views and ensures that he is never wrong.
Now here is the dialogue !!
Joey Naylor: ...so what happens when you're wrong?
Nick Naylor: Whoa, Joey I'm never wrong.
Joey Naylor: But you can't always be right...
Nick Naylor: Well, if it's your job to be right, then you're never wrong.
Joey Naylor: But what if you are wrong?
Nick Naylor: OK, let's say that you're defending chocolate, and I'm defending vanilla. Now if I were to say to you: 'Vanilla is the best flavour ice-cream', you'd say...
Joey Naylor: No, chocolate is.
Nick Naylor: Exactly, but you can't win that argument... so, I'll ask you: so you think chocolate is the end all and the all of ice-cream, do you?
Joey Naylor: It's the best ice-cream, I wouldn't order any other.
Nick Naylor: Oh! So it's all chocolate for you is it?
Joey Naylor: Yes, chocolate is all I need.
Nick Naylor: Well, I need more than chocolate, and for that matter I need more than vanilla. I believe that we need freedom. And choice when it comes to our ice-cream, and that Joey Naylor, that is the defintion of liberty.
Joey Naylor: But that's not what we're talking about
Nick Naylor: Ah! But that's what I'm talking about.
Joey Naylor: ...but you didn't prove that vanilla was the best...
Nick Naylor: I didn't have to. I proved that you're wrong, and if you're wrong I'm right.
Joey Naylor: But you still didn't convince me
Nick Naylor: It's that I'm not after you. I'm after them.
[points into the crowd]
Amazing stuff, after this dialogue , I started to read all the books of Christopher Buckley , except this book all other books you should have an idea of US politics , but this is a great book with amazing dialogues and lot of ideas of public speaking, even when the entire crowd hates you.
The movie ends with the following line
Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent.
Actors : Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor and his son (in the movie ) Joey
Scene : Nick teaches his kid how he is able to propagate his views and ensures that he is never wrong.
Now here is the dialogue !!
Joey Naylor: ...so what happens when you're wrong?
Nick Naylor: Whoa, Joey I'm never wrong.
Joey Naylor: But you can't always be right...
Nick Naylor: Well, if it's your job to be right, then you're never wrong.
Joey Naylor: But what if you are wrong?
Nick Naylor: OK, let's say that you're defending chocolate, and I'm defending vanilla. Now if I were to say to you: 'Vanilla is the best flavour ice-cream', you'd say...
Joey Naylor: No, chocolate is.
Nick Naylor: Exactly, but you can't win that argument... so, I'll ask you: so you think chocolate is the end all and the all of ice-cream, do you?
Joey Naylor: It's the best ice-cream, I wouldn't order any other.
Nick Naylor: Oh! So it's all chocolate for you is it?
Joey Naylor: Yes, chocolate is all I need.
Nick Naylor: Well, I need more than chocolate, and for that matter I need more than vanilla. I believe that we need freedom. And choice when it comes to our ice-cream, and that Joey Naylor, that is the defintion of liberty.
Joey Naylor: But that's not what we're talking about
Nick Naylor: Ah! But that's what I'm talking about.
Joey Naylor: ...but you didn't prove that vanilla was the best...
Nick Naylor: I didn't have to. I proved that you're wrong, and if you're wrong I'm right.
Joey Naylor: But you still didn't convince me
Nick Naylor: It's that I'm not after you. I'm after them.
[points into the crowd]
Amazing stuff, after this dialogue , I started to read all the books of Christopher Buckley , except this book all other books you should have an idea of US politics , but this is a great book with amazing dialogues and lot of ideas of public speaking, even when the entire crowd hates you.
The movie ends with the following line
Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent.
My Favorite Sufi Stories
Sufism is a type of Islam and Mulla Nasruddin is its superstar, he will be able to frame complex things into simple sentences so that the masses can understand.
Mulla looked at him and said, "You assume things are going to go well and when they do not, you call that bad luck. You assume things are going to go badly and when they do not, you call that good luck. You assume certain things are going to happen or not happen a certain way, but you do not know what is going to actually happen. You assume the future is unknown. When you are caught out (things do not work out for you), you call that Fate
A certain man asked the famous Mulla Nasrudin, "What is the meaning of fate?"
Mulla replied, "Assumptions."
"In what way?" the man asked again.
Mulla looked at him and said, "You assume things are going to go well and when they do not, you call that bad luck. You assume things are going to go badly and when they do not, you call that good luck. You assume certain things are going to happen or not happen a certain way, but you do not know what is going to actually happen. You assume the future is unknown. When you are caught out (things do not work out for you), you call that Fate
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
I am going to Miss Mr George Bush!!
Forget about all the sentiments that are going on and the amazing speech made by the new President, I miss George Bush.
He screwed up the country, but he cleaned up a lot of bushes in his ranch. I miss George Bush.
Lot of people lost their job during his presidency, but he showed the world that a president can take two years of vacation in 8 years. I miss him.
George Bush has done so much damage to English language, like an iceberg to a Titanic. I miss him.
He was the first MBA President, who made the economy freeze like John Kerry's face(Botox) . I miss George Bush.
He was the first president who proved that you don't have to be very well educated , but have a powerful father can get what you want. I miss him
Grades don't matter, you don't have to be smart, you don't even have to do the work of a president, but you can be the President. I miss him
He proved that you don't have to be a good public speaker. I am going to wait for his speeches.
I want to thank my friend, Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today. He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me., A President who gets confused with his gender , who cannot miss him.
I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." He does make people speechless, who can do that anymore ?
"I understand small business growth. I was one." Not sure which growth he is talking about.
He screwed up the country, but he cleaned up a lot of bushes in his ranch. I miss George Bush.
Lot of people lost their job during his presidency, but he showed the world that a president can take two years of vacation in 8 years. I miss him.
George Bush has done so much damage to English language, like an iceberg to a Titanic. I miss him.
He was the first MBA President, who made the economy freeze like John Kerry's face(Botox) . I miss George Bush.
He was the first president who proved that you don't have to be very well educated , but have a powerful father can get what you want. I miss him
Grades don't matter, you don't have to be smart, you don't even have to do the work of a president, but you can be the President. I miss him
He proved that you don't have to be a good public speaker. I am going to wait for his speeches.
I want to thank my friend, Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today. He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me., A President who gets confused with his gender , who cannot miss him.
I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." He does make people speechless, who can do that anymore ?
"I understand small business growth. I was one." Not sure which growth he is talking about.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Gold, Good or bad ?
My mom sent me a gold ring today, with all her blessings and her prayers. First time in my life I am wearing gold. Ironically I happened to read the latest issue of National Geographic Magazine and was fascinated to read the facts about Gold. There was an interview in NPR with the guys who had written this article..
is Gold good or bad ?
Some Facts about gold which I didn't know
1 ) Entire gold which was mined till now in the world , can be fitted into two Olympic sized swimming pools. (50 m by 30 m) (164 ft by 98 ft ) and 6.6 feet deep or only 161,000 tons .
2 ) Gold prices have gone up 350 % from 2001 to now.
3 ) There are only few mines in the world and the gold now is is a scarce resource and all the mines are running out of gold.
4 ) For gold which is required for a wedding band , around 250 tonnes of materials(rock and ore) have to be cleared.
5 ) India is a biggest consumer of gold and they don't care where the gold came from.
6 ) Except for the gold which is lost under sea, all other gold is completely accountable.
7 ) Most of them who work in the mines are very poor , some of them are "consultants", they work without pay for 30 days or 45 days day in and day out and they find one small ounce of gold.
8 ) Mercury contamination is so high that the people who work there age quickly and die quickly.
9 ) A vast amount of mercury—at least 30 percent of the world total—is used by small-scale miners to process gold.
10 ) When going to visit the gold mines , its completely controlled my warlords(with AK47) and child soldiers. So if we have to visit this place, make sure that we take a lot of jack daniels.
11 ) In India there is an industry where they scrap gold from the dustbin. According to the story , if someone gives a bar of gold say 103 grams , while making jewelery of 100 grams and rest is lost in washing and having contact with other metals. So for that 3 grams there is a huge industry for scraping through the trash.
12 ) The World's biggest Gold company(he didn't name that company ) is much more secure than the federal reserve and the raw sewage is checked if any gold passes through their system.
13 ) Through out history gold has been a very safe stone and a good investment.
14 ) In 2007, India consumed 773.6 tons of gold, about 20 percent of the world gold market and more than double that purchased by either of its closest followers, China (363.3 tons) and the U.S. (278.1 tons).
15 ) India produces very little gold of its own, but its citizens have hoarded up to 18,000 tons of the yellow metal—more than 40 times the amount held in the country's central bank.
16 ) Epicenter of Gold Purchase in India --- >Kerala !!
Check out some of the pictures
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/01/gold/randy-olson-photography
is Gold good or bad ?
Some Facts about gold which I didn't know
1 ) Entire gold which was mined till now in the world , can be fitted into two Olympic sized swimming pools. (50 m by 30 m) (164 ft by 98 ft ) and 6.6 feet deep or only 161,000 tons .
2 ) Gold prices have gone up 350 % from 2001 to now.
3 ) There are only few mines in the world and the gold now is is a scarce resource and all the mines are running out of gold.
4 ) For gold which is required for a wedding band , around 250 tonnes of materials(rock and ore) have to be cleared.
5 ) India is a biggest consumer of gold and they don't care where the gold came from.
6 ) Except for the gold which is lost under sea, all other gold is completely accountable.
7 ) Most of them who work in the mines are very poor , some of them are "consultants", they work without pay for 30 days or 45 days day in and day out and they find one small ounce of gold.
8 ) Mercury contamination is so high that the people who work there age quickly and die quickly.
9 ) A vast amount of mercury—at least 30 percent of the world total—is used by small-scale miners to process gold.
10 ) When going to visit the gold mines , its completely controlled my warlords(with AK47) and child soldiers. So if we have to visit this place, make sure that we take a lot of jack daniels.
11 ) In India there is an industry where they scrap gold from the dustbin. According to the story , if someone gives a bar of gold say 103 grams , while making jewelery of 100 grams and rest is lost in washing and having contact with other metals. So for that 3 grams there is a huge industry for scraping through the trash.
12 ) The World's biggest Gold company(he didn't name that company ) is much more secure than the federal reserve and the raw sewage is checked if any gold passes through their system.
13 ) Through out history gold has been a very safe stone and a good investment.
14 ) In 2007, India consumed 773.6 tons of gold, about 20 percent of the world gold market and more than double that purchased by either of its closest followers, China (363.3 tons) and the U.S. (278.1 tons).
15 ) India produces very little gold of its own, but its citizens have hoarded up to 18,000 tons of the yellow metal—more than 40 times the amount held in the country's central bank.
16 ) Epicenter of Gold Purchase in India --- >Kerala !!
Check out some of the pictures
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/01/gold/randy-olson-photography
Black Channa with Capsicum + Coconut
My mom always made this , but I tried to add some flavors to make it my own taste.
This is recipe
- Black channa : 2 cup , Immerse in water for 8 hrs.
- Water should cover the channa + a little more.
- Add an hint of HING(Asofedita)
- Coconut Powder : 1 cup
- Green Chillies : 7 cut into small slices.
- Capsicum : 1 (Cut into small pieces)
- Curry Leaves.
This is a tip which I got from Alton Brown of Good Eats. Whenever we use any dhal , other than toor, masoor or any other small dhal we don't need to immerse in water for long while. In a bigger dhal there is more space for water to enter its pores and make it soft.
After 8 hrs, most of the water will be absorbed. Keep it in the Pressure cooker and wait for 4 whistles.
Question : One thing I don't understand why most of the cooking shows don't use Pressure cooker, inspite of the fact that KFC made their success only after Pressure cooker.
Answers welcome.
- Wait for the cooker to cool down.
- Filter the extra water.
- Take a clean Tava in the stove ( Make sure you turn on the stove)
- Once the tava is hot , Add EVOO(as Rachel Ray says it, Extra Virgin Olive Oil).
- Once the oil gets heated , add Urad dhal , Jeera , and wait for Urad dhal to become red
- Add Mustard seeds and allow it to sputter.
- Add the green chilies and wait for two minutes
- Add the Capsicum
- Add the Channa
Just ensure that this doesn't stick and keep on turning the channa.
This is to ensure that everything is mixed properly.
- Add the coconut and curry leaves.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Art of convincing people
Everyone in the world tries to convince others. Once you practice this art and if you are good at this you can really make the world go around you.
I will be adding more examples to this , but I read the following in the Jewel of Medina.
Story # 1
Mohamed is already married 5 times and now he sets his eye to marry the 5th wife. Her name is Umm Salama. Umm Salama was already married and has been widowed, she has kids from her earlier marriage, she is very much in love with her husband. But women in that generation if there is noone to take care of, have either one of the two options begging or Prostituition.
Mohamed wanted to marry her and she refused two of her suitors also, literally he begged her to marry (it seems!) .
So finally she had the following questions and the answers from him
Q : I am set in my own ways and my years are too advanced for me to change them.
A : I am more advanced in years than you and I know your thinking and will make sure that you take the lead.
Q : I am hesitant to move my children to a home which may not love as his father
A : I have know you and your kids right from the time they were bor, so obviously I will love them as you do
Q: I am averse to Sharing my husband with other women and I am Jealous the man I marry will even look at other women ?
(This is the best answer ) : As for your Jealousy , I would ask god to remove it from you.
Very covincing answers, but most of his marriages ( 13 of them ) all are marriage of convieneince rather than for love. More short stories will be added in the future.
I will be adding more examples to this , but I read the following in the Jewel of Medina.
Story # 1
Mohamed is already married 5 times and now he sets his eye to marry the 5th wife. Her name is Umm Salama. Umm Salama was already married and has been widowed, she has kids from her earlier marriage, she is very much in love with her husband. But women in that generation if there is noone to take care of, have either one of the two options begging or Prostituition.
Mohamed wanted to marry her and she refused two of her suitors also, literally he begged her to marry (it seems!) .
So finally she had the following questions and the answers from him
Q : I am set in my own ways and my years are too advanced for me to change them.
A : I am more advanced in years than you and I know your thinking and will make sure that you take the lead.
Q : I am hesitant to move my children to a home which may not love as his father
A : I have know you and your kids right from the time they were bor, so obviously I will love them as you do
Q: I am averse to Sharing my husband with other women and I am Jealous the man I marry will even look at other women ?
(This is the best answer ) : As for your Jealousy , I would ask god to remove it from you.
Very covincing answers, but most of his marriages ( 13 of them ) all are marriage of convieneince rather than for love. More short stories will be added in the future.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Lage raho Munna bhai
I had this oppurtunity of seeing this movie (again) on Sony Max.What an amazing movie. This must be one of the best movies ever done in Indian cinema. Obviously the "Jolna bag" crowd will disagree with me , for them its only Sathyajit Ray films.
Each and every scene in this movie was a lesson or a way to learn to be a better human being. How many of us did our research on Gandhi after that movie. Till that time Gandhi was a factor either hated and loathed or loved by people. This was the first one which said how to use it practically. The story of Jimmy Shergill and his father , the climax of the movie (no fights , no stunts nothing ) , how many of us would have expected that type of ending.
I still cannot understand what makes a good film ?
The more you say about India's poverty , the more famous awards the movie will get.
Still cannot think why Lago Raho Munna Bhai was not named the best film of 2006 , it was given to KaalPurush. how many of them have seen that movie ? Till now I have not even heard of that movie. Even after the awards how many of them have seen/heard of that movie?
Why doesn't a best seller in the country be the best movie ?
Each and every person who has seen this movie has approved it and watched it and appreciated in reruns too. Everytime when I see Lago Raho I cry. What a movie, yes it is a masala movie and everyone made money out of it. So is that the reason why it should be given all the awards ?
Since there are few judges sitting in the benches who think they are much more acute thinking(JOLNA bags) than others.
When I was in India and when Doordarshan was the only one available , watching the movies which used to come at 1:30 in the afternoon. How many of them really were keen to watch those movies ? I would prefer to watch the "News magazine for the hearing impaired" than watch the movie.
So the criteria of a best movie is as follows
1 ) Make sure its a bengali film or a Malayalam Film ( because people living in communist states make better films!!!!) .
2 ) One more word , I cannot understand this , the people of West Bengal , they cannot even see a change of Chief minister for 30+ years and they may be intellectual , and they prefer to live in a authortative world than democracy. The leader will be 80+ years and then he will pass on the mantle to his other sucecessor who will be 70 +. Automatically he becomes the CM. I will write more about communists in India , they are a funny bunch. They are either with one side or other , oppurtunistic airheads.
3 ) Make sure that people outside of that state should not know that film.
4 ) If the Film is directed by a famous bengali director , no questions asked.
5 ) If the film has poverty and they should not be earning pennies and living in a place which is a slum , add 20 points to it. (this will be sent to Oscars also)
6 ) The average guy in the panel will be a person will not have friends , neither cannot hold steady conversation with anyone or he will be from the person from the states where they are representing.
7 ) The Film should have an ending either the hero dies or leave it the audiences , so that they could break their head.
8 ) Very very Important !! a NORMAL PERSON SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE FILM.
9 ) The movie should be very very slow ( I remember watching in a bengali film , where they show a old lady having a smile on her face, the entire focus in on her face and around 10 minutes she starts to laugh , going to laugh , ..... and then u patiently wait and then she smiles!! Voila !! , my goodness I would have shot myself)
P.S
Jolna bags definition. You might have seen them everywhere in India. Typical looks are in the following
1 ) Very powerful glasses
2 ) always have a bag with them , which will have pens and a notepad.
3 ) Will wear a Veshti/Jibba.
4 ) 4 day beard.
5 ) Never say any good things about anything , always criticize about establishment.
6 ) In the young years , they must be good smokers of Ganja and then later on the life they will criticize of people smoking ganja.
7 ) Biggest Hypcrites of all.
8 ) If you know about Tamil Writes , typical one is Gnani , he writes in Kumudam(O Pakkangal).
9 ) They must be crazy RSS idealogues.
10 ) They are well educated , most of them have masters or Ph.ds.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Mystics and men of grace
When you start read about mystics and their powers , there is always a hint of doubt. People who knew me will always tell me that I like to ask more questions and will not be convinced by textbook answers. Its always enlightening to read the lectures of Sathguru Jaggi Vasudev and Swami Sukabodanda.
"Autobiography of a Yogi" talked about a lot of yogis who had amazing powers , but they prefer
I would like to start this to read and share stories about them and wonder if they could be true, one of the persons who I read recently about from my friend is the following story.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2003/05/02/stories/2003050201370400.htm
I am not sure if this is a true story. I have the following questions in this story
1 ) If I assume the story is true , is the meaning of the story is "Talk less and meditate more " ?
2 ) This question always bothers me , what does a yogi do ?
3 ) If they are going to be constrained to be in their own world , by being silent and being in their yoga position , what good does it do for others ?
4 ) Isn't one of the best things in life to do is to share your enlightenment with others so that they could get to advance in their life ?
5 ) All these stories even like "Vallalar" who had this great "Vadiya payire kanda pothu ellam vadinen" ( whenever I saw a plant which was sad, I was also sad). He also got married and he didn't even touch his wife. Doesn't the people's wife get more credit than these people, they have choosen their life , but the wives have been forced into this life.
"Autobiography of a Yogi" talked about a lot of yogis who had amazing powers , but they prefer
I would like to start this to read and share stories about them and wonder if they could be true, one of the persons who I read recently about from my friend is the following story.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2003/05/02/stories/2003050201370400.htm
I am not sure if this is a true story. I have the following questions in this story
1 ) If I assume the story is true , is the meaning of the story is "Talk less and meditate more " ?
2 ) This question always bothers me , what does a yogi do ?
3 ) If they are going to be constrained to be in their own world , by being silent and being in their yoga position , what good does it do for others ?
4 ) Isn't one of the best things in life to do is to share your enlightenment with others so that they could get to advance in their life ?
5 ) All these stories even like "Vallalar" who had this great "Vadiya payire kanda pothu ellam vadinen" ( whenever I saw a plant which was sad, I was also sad). He also got married and he didn't even touch his wife. Doesn't the people's wife get more credit than these people, they have choosen their life , but the wives have been forced into this life.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Wovel
I usually listen to NPR podcasts at work in my noise canceling headphones. Today I heard this concept of "Wovel". This is basically a Novel , but in the web.
New chapters come in every Monday and users who read the novel , can suggest a twist and the best thing can be used by the author.
The concept was amazing. People don't read much and I have seen hardback books here are so expensive.
In a book Titled "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance" by Atul Gawande. He tells the story about an hospital in New York. One of the important functions of a doctors and surgeons is to wash hands and also they should ensure all the touch points are clean. Even if they wear watch they should remove it and wash it or cleanse it. So they had a devise a mandatory system for doctors to wash all the touch points.
But doctors ego is so high that even clouds cannot touch them. They can tell things to do to others, but having them implement this would be a difficult task. Making it mandatory didn't work because , doctors have the feeling that they know everything.
So the best suggestion which was given was have a meeting all the doctors and asking them their suggestions. Instead of having it mandatory and when they feel that they are part of the solution rather than the part of the problem , things changed dramatically.
Same holds good in this wovel too, if people feel that their story is also going to be part , it will spike up interest and people may read more. Hats off to their venture.
New chapters come in every Monday and users who read the novel , can suggest a twist and the best thing can be used by the author.
The concept was amazing. People don't read much and I have seen hardback books here are so expensive.
In a book Titled "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance" by Atul Gawande. He tells the story about an hospital in New York. One of the important functions of a doctors and surgeons is to wash hands and also they should ensure all the touch points are clean. Even if they wear watch they should remove it and wash it or cleanse it. So they had a devise a mandatory system for doctors to wash all the touch points.
But doctors ego is so high that even clouds cannot touch them. They can tell things to do to others, but having them implement this would be a difficult task. Making it mandatory didn't work because , doctors have the feeling that they know everything.
So the best suggestion which was given was have a meeting all the doctors and asking them their suggestions. Instead of having it mandatory and when they feel that they are part of the solution rather than the part of the problem , things changed dramatically.
Same holds good in this wovel too, if people feel that their story is also going to be part , it will spike up interest and people may read more. Hats off to their venture.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Beet Juice
Beet Juice
I have the Jack-la lane juicer, I got it as a present from my friend and I have been using it very often and would do a different combination's of juices.
There's saying "when you have a hammer , everything looks like a nail" similarly when you are juicing every vegetable and fruit becomes your victim. We bought beets and i was too lazy to cook them. I was a little hesitant of making beet juice, not sure of the taste of beet. So I juiced the following
Three beets
2 Apples
2 Tomatoes
a Big Pinch of Ginger
10 to 12 baby carrots
1 Lemon ( I am delightfully suprized that when I use a lemon in the juicer , I get a lot of juice).
One quick tip :
Whenever you are going to juice , take a plastic bag and cover the drainer with that , this will ensure that all the junk from the jucier will directly go into this. so that you can take this and just throw it.
So first add the beets and then the carrots ,apple,tomatoes ginger and lemon at the end.
When I first tasted it, I was stunned , it was amazing.
Health Benifits
Beet juice reduces Blood pressure
These colorful root vegetables contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer.
Side effects
Beet is a very strong cleanser and it will be so visible , you will see the after effects when you go to the restroom , everything will be red. But drink a lot of water and this will dilute the after effects.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Book Review : Jewel of Medina
This book had created a lot of buzz before the book was printed. Random house publishing had initially rejected this book afraid that this might be the "Satanic Verses " of this year. ( I will write about Satanic Verses later) . This book does not have any controversial statements or thoughts most of the stuff written is already there in lot of books.
This book is about Ayesha which means "she who lives", the third wife of Mohammad. Recently I have been reading a lot of Historical fiction , ( first one was Nefertiti ) and I have become huge fan of books which they talk in present tense.
Historical prospective in the Initial stages, Islam had two staunch lieutenants , one was Ali he was the Cousin of Mohammad and other was Abu-bakr a friend and confidant. These are two persons who were the pillars of Islam.
Ayesha is the daughter of Abu-bakr. Ali marries one of Mohammad's daughters and this strengthens his ties. Now Abu-bakr wanted to establish his strong ties and wanted to make sure that he is the second in command , so he agrees to marry his daughter to Mohammad, even though his daughter is just 9 and she is not even attained puberty. The reason why he does is to gain control,every human being wants it and if he does not have it , he tries his best to get it.
Marriages are the way families come together and it also gives access to the person. This is like Jodhaa Akbar, where Akbar marries a Rajput princess to ensure that they don't fight and a truce is formed (even though Akbar and Jodhaa are completely fictional).
Ayesha is married to Mohammad when she is 9, but since she has still not attained puberty she is still with her parents. Her mom is one of wives of Abu-bakr and she wants to ensure that Ayesha becomes a hatun (the best wife) , so that she can treat all other wives like slaves.
Ayesha is different , initially she is told that she is going to marry a foot soldier and she has feelings towards him and then when she becomes the wife of Mohammad , immediately she becomes his favorite wife , since she is the youngest one.
Ayesha is always independent and learns how to fight with Mohammad. She also has a sharp tongue and a good sense of humor. She lights up the house.
Ali hates her right from the beginning and he is also jealous the way Mohammad treats her.
So the story goes from here and it is handled in a good way. The following are my quick comments on this
1 ) Ayesha is described as having red hair , I was under the impression I may be wrong but red hair is usually a causacasian feature and I am surprized that a girl in a village in middle east has a red hair.
2 ) Attaining puberty , may be because I am a guy reading this , there is a lot of mention of ur blood flow should start , I read this atleast 6 or 7 times, she could have used a different sentence.
3 ) Lot of things happening are very situational , either she getting married and bringing her toys or she disappears in the middle of the desert, thats a fascinating part of the entire story.
4 ) The lives of the sister wives, it must be really difficult for them unless they are the lead one and all others make sure that they do all the mischevous thing to make sure that they get their time and have their authority.
5 ) The lives of women as a whole , there is a sentence in the book where Ayesha has not attained puberty and she is married , she wanted to go with Mohammed and he says you can come with me later. Her mom says "Men want only two things from a women , 1 )Pleasure and 2)create an offspring , you cannot do anything now so you cannot go". Women are treated like objects of desire and like a store item.
6 ) Add this to the fact that even if a girl has been kidnapped and raped , the guy can get a divorce from that girl.
But Ayesha still stands apart and she has done an excellent job , either in her war skills or the counsel or the power she yields. She is the first one who goes to the war , unlike normal women who give water to the soldiers , she fights valiantly.
This is my first draft and i will write more on this later.
This book is about Ayesha which means "she who lives", the third wife of Mohammad. Recently I have been reading a lot of Historical fiction , ( first one was Nefertiti ) and I have become huge fan of books which they talk in present tense.
Historical prospective in the Initial stages, Islam had two staunch lieutenants , one was Ali he was the Cousin of Mohammad and other was Abu-bakr a friend and confidant. These are two persons who were the pillars of Islam.
Ayesha is the daughter of Abu-bakr. Ali marries one of Mohammad's daughters and this strengthens his ties. Now Abu-bakr wanted to establish his strong ties and wanted to make sure that he is the second in command , so he agrees to marry his daughter to Mohammad, even though his daughter is just 9 and she is not even attained puberty. The reason why he does is to gain control,every human being wants it and if he does not have it , he tries his best to get it.
Marriages are the way families come together and it also gives access to the person. This is like Jodhaa Akbar, where Akbar marries a Rajput princess to ensure that they don't fight and a truce is formed (even though Akbar and Jodhaa are completely fictional).
Ayesha is married to Mohammad when she is 9, but since she has still not attained puberty she is still with her parents. Her mom is one of wives of Abu-bakr and she wants to ensure that Ayesha becomes a hatun (the best wife) , so that she can treat all other wives like slaves.
Ayesha is different , initially she is told that she is going to marry a foot soldier and she has feelings towards him and then when she becomes the wife of Mohammad , immediately she becomes his favorite wife , since she is the youngest one.
Ayesha is always independent and learns how to fight with Mohammad. She also has a sharp tongue and a good sense of humor. She lights up the house.
Ali hates her right from the beginning and he is also jealous the way Mohammad treats her.
So the story goes from here and it is handled in a good way. The following are my quick comments on this
1 ) Ayesha is described as having red hair , I was under the impression I may be wrong but red hair is usually a causacasian feature and I am surprized that a girl in a village in middle east has a red hair.
2 ) Attaining puberty , may be because I am a guy reading this , there is a lot of mention of ur blood flow should start , I read this atleast 6 or 7 times, she could have used a different sentence.
3 ) Lot of things happening are very situational , either she getting married and bringing her toys or she disappears in the middle of the desert, thats a fascinating part of the entire story.
4 ) The lives of the sister wives, it must be really difficult for them unless they are the lead one and all others make sure that they do all the mischevous thing to make sure that they get their time and have their authority.
5 ) The lives of women as a whole , there is a sentence in the book where Ayesha has not attained puberty and she is married , she wanted to go with Mohammed and he says you can come with me later. Her mom says "Men want only two things from a women , 1 )Pleasure and 2)create an offspring , you cannot do anything now so you cannot go". Women are treated like objects of desire and like a store item.
6 ) Add this to the fact that even if a girl has been kidnapped and raped , the guy can get a divorce from that girl.
But Ayesha still stands apart and she has done an excellent job , either in her war skills or the counsel or the power she yields. She is the first one who goes to the war , unlike normal women who give water to the soldiers , she fights valiantly.
This is my first draft and i will write more on this later.
Book Review : Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley
I always love Chris Buckley's books and this one didn't disappoint me. The first time I heard of Chris buckley was after watching "Thank you for Smoking". That was one of my favorite movies and I watched it around 5 times , just for the dialogue.
So after watching this movie and then I took the ardent task of reading his books. The first book was "Thank you for smoking". As the normal saying goes , the book was much better than movie. There is an amazing line in that book "If my job is to be right , I cannot be wrong". The hero of the book Nick Naylor is a fascinating character and I learned so much from that.
This book is also a fascinating , what happens when a president who has approval ratings lower than the number of villains in a typical Telugu Film. He cannot appoint a Supreme court , a very talented judge comes to the congressional hearing and he is rejected because when he was 12 years old , he had written a review about "To Kill a mocking bird" and said some parts of the movie was boring. Immediately the members of congressional committee grill him and they just stop saying that he is part of Klux Klux Klan.
So the president an ardent fan of the TV Show appoints a TV Judge and she gets appointed , and what happens next is the story. The heroine of this Judge Pepper Cartwright and she is a Texan, she has her texan slang and a straightforward honest talk. So what happens when she meets with the congressional committee is a laughter riot.
Once I read this book , two things came to my mind
1 ) Harriet Myers.
Harriet Myers was appointed by George Bush and one of the reasons given for her selection was she is just outside of his office and he knew her very well.
2 ) The other fascinating character was the judge from Anna Nicole Smith's trial, that guy used to cry and was a quite a character.
Chris might have got an inspiration from these two characters I believe. But all fictional books are all the cases of what if.
I read this book in two days and I like the style of writing lot of saracm and he really cracks you up.
With my review if I had even kindled interest in this book , then my mission is done.
So after watching this movie and then I took the ardent task of reading his books. The first book was "Thank you for smoking". As the normal saying goes , the book was much better than movie. There is an amazing line in that book "If my job is to be right , I cannot be wrong". The hero of the book Nick Naylor is a fascinating character and I learned so much from that.
This book is also a fascinating , what happens when a president who has approval ratings lower than the number of villains in a typical Telugu Film. He cannot appoint a Supreme court , a very talented judge comes to the congressional hearing and he is rejected because when he was 12 years old , he had written a review about "To Kill a mocking bird" and said some parts of the movie was boring. Immediately the members of congressional committee grill him and they just stop saying that he is part of Klux Klux Klan.
So the president an ardent fan of the TV Show appoints a TV Judge and she gets appointed , and what happens next is the story. The heroine of this Judge Pepper Cartwright and she is a Texan, she has her texan slang and a straightforward honest talk. So what happens when she meets with the congressional committee is a laughter riot.
Once I read this book , two things came to my mind
1 ) Harriet Myers.
Harriet Myers was appointed by George Bush and one of the reasons given for her selection was she is just outside of his office and he knew her very well.
2 ) The other fascinating character was the judge from Anna Nicole Smith's trial, that guy used to cry and was a quite a character.
Chris might have got an inspiration from these two characters I believe. But all fictional books are all the cases of what if.
I read this book in two days and I like the style of writing lot of saracm and he really cracks you up.
With my review if I had even kindled interest in this book , then my mission is done.
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