well..

Ju

2006-09-14T15:24:00.000+05:30

Children of Heaven

2006-06-27T11:13:00.000+05:30

Children of Heaven

2006-06-27T11:05:00.000+05:30

Children of Heaven

2006-06-27T11:02:00.001+05:30

Children of Heaven

2006-06-27T10:26:00.000+05:30

Hero

2006-06-23T15:05:00.000+05:30

Sudepalli

2006-06-23T15:02:00.000+05:30

Jack Vettriano

2006-06-15T17:05:00.000+05:30

There are six differences between the two images. Can you find them all?

:-)

SFX

2006-06-15T15:38:00.000+05:30

Ju....uJ

2006-06-02T12:05:00.000+05:30

1+1=2

2006-06-02T11:50:00.000+05:30

Boring....

2006-05-16T10:25:00.000+05:30

"waste of Rs 595"

Brilliant

2006-05-16T10:19:00.000+05:30

"Must Read!"

sudhakar Reddy

2006-05-15T15:20:00.000+05:30

sunny n mansi

2006-05-15T15:19:00.000+05:30

sai n teja

2006-05-15T15:18:00.000+05:30

swetan

2006-05-15T15:16:00.000+05:30

venkat n ranjani

2006-05-15T15:14:00.000+05:30

gentlemen

2006-05-15T15:13:00.000+05:30

ladies

2006-05-15T15:12:00.001+05:30

2006-05-15T15:12:00.000+05:30

ju

2006-05-15T15:11:00.000+05:30

2006-05-15T15:09:00.000+05:30

5

2006-05-15T15:08:00.000+05:30

4

2006-05-15T15:07:00.000+05:30

3

2006-05-15T15:06:00.000+05:30

2

2006-05-15T15:04:00.001+05:30

1

2006-05-15T15:04:00.000+05:30

sketch

2006-05-15T14:04:00.000+05:30

Rumi

2006-04-11T17:27:00.000+05:30

The Sufi Master Attar is said to have commented about Rumi.

"There goes a river dragging an ocean behind it."

" Don't look at your form, however ugly or beautiful.
Look at love and at the aim of your quest. ...
O you whose lips are parched, keep looking for water.
Those parched lips are proof that eventually you will reach the source."

CRASH

2006-03-27T14:01:00.000+05:30

                         CRASH----Being unconventional, is it the convention of the day?

     On June 10th 2005 a film titled ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey’ was released in theaters and it was a miserable failure at the box office. This film is in no way connected with the film in context, Crash. This film is an adaptation of Pulitzer Prize winning novel, with the same title, by Thornton Wilder.

     The only similarity between the two films, ‘Crash’ and ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey’ is that both the films deal with multiple interconnected stories, which seems to be the genre of the decade.

     The unconventional style of filmmaking, dealing with out a protagonist or with multiple protagonists, featuring an ensemble of independent stories that, somehow, come to end in a finale, where in all the stories and characters mysteriously and unexpectedly collide, find its roots in the book ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey’.

     This book by Thornton Wilder featured the story of a catastrophe—a tiny footbridge in Peru breaks and five people dash to their deaths. For Brother Juniper, a humble monk, the questions were inescapable. Why those five? Was it a chance or the divine intervention that brought them together on that fatal day at that place and that moment of time? Or were they, in some mystical way, to blame for what happened to them?

     This kind of story telling is quite new to the art of filmmaking. The first ever attempt of filmmaking with a non-liner narrative and multiple point of views goes back to the 1950’s Japanese film Rashomon by Akira Kurasawa. After that the best-known film with divergent narratives is the ever-famous cult film of the 90’s, ‘pulp fiction’ by Quentin Tarantino. Other successful films that dealt with this exceptional style of narrative structure include,

Amores Perros (Spanish) by Alejandro Gonzalez Inaritu
Traffic (English) by Steven Soderbergh
Suraj ka Saatwan Ghoda (Hindi) by Shyam Benegal
Midaq Alley (Spanish) by Jorge Fons
Magnolia (English) by Paul Thomas Anderson

     Apart from these successful films there were quite a few films that tried to create a mosaic of several interrelated stories. One such film is ‘Heights’, directed by Chris Terrio and dealt with desperation and  ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey’ directed by Mary McGukian. These two recent films released in 2004 and 2005, respectively did not stop Crash, this years Oscar winner for best film, directed by Paul Haggis, to went on to become the biggest film of 2005.

     The question in discussion here is that, is Crash a conventional film or by trying to be unconventional has it triggered a new convention?

     The idea of divergent narratives is no more a device of innovation or novelty, but it is slowly turning in to a screen convention. Is it believable that a hero can hold several bullets in his body and yet survive; where as an extra playing a rowdy will die with just a single bullet. Of course not! We accept it because it is an accepted convention of Indian films.

     Crash, which deal with the racism in the everyday lives of Americans, was quite successful at the box office and also at the Oscars. The director, Paul haggis tried to tell the stories of hatred in the name of racism by choosing the overused technique of ‘non linear narrative’. He seemed to have paid the tribute to Quentin Tarantino, the man who started this fire, in two scenes.

     Even though Crash went on to become one of the biggest hits of 2005 and its Oscars not many people are happy with the film. Many a people liked the film but majority of them do not vote for its Oscar win. Many say it was just an ‘OK’ kind of film and they find no reason for it to win an Oscar.

     The reason for such divided talk is vowed to several reasons. One of it is that Crash is a fantasy film unless you believe that 90% of the people you pass on the streets of America are constantly thinking about racism and are constantly acting on it in severe and extreme ways. This is biggest loophole of the film and to add more, it pretends to be a realistic. But it’s true that there are quite a few brilliant scenes and in the end the film is moving and inspiring in some ways.

     Considering the fact that there were not many good films in the competition this year Crash was, in a way, lucky to have won the award. But when compared to the films that dealt with such technique are far superior to Crash and one should not forget that none of them have won an Oscar for best film. This in many ways is a disappointing news to the film lovers around the world, as it clearly indicates the degrading standards in the world of cinema. One thing that clearly shows in Crash is that it is what it is today only because it tried to package a set of similar stories in to a bigger collage and it was the only saving grace of the film supported by brilliant editing. Being unconventional, is it the order of the day? If so the world awaits for one more Quentin Tarantino to start the fire with something new and unconventional.

Bug me not

2006-03-27T11:27:00.000+05:30

You're browsing the web and you click a link to an article on a site (let's say nytimes.com) but instead of getting the article you get a screen asking you to login or register. Infuriated at the idea of pointlessly registering for yet another site you turn to your good buddy bugmenot.com

Instructions
STEP 1: Make a note of the website address your are trying to access. For example:
http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-1024_3-5567274.html
Or even just:
www.nytimes.com

STEP 2: Visit http://bugmenot.com

STEP 3: Enter the address from step 1 into the box and press the "Get Logins" button

STEP 4: You should now be presented with at least one username and password. Make a note of them.

STEP 5: Go back to the site you were originally trying to access in step 1 and proceed to login with the username and password you noted in the previous step.

With any luck you should be able to access your article now!

Raga of the day- Revathi

2006-03-27T09:57:00.000+05:30

Aarohanam: S R1 M1 P N2 S
Avarohanam: S N2 P M1 R1 S

Aparadhi Nanalla---Purandara Dasa
Naa Naati Batuku---Annamayya
Yeryeduthum----Papanasam Sivan
Ramathe Yamuna----Jayadeva

Tao-21

2006-03-27T09:50:00.000+05:30

The greatest Virtue is to follow Tao and Tao alone.
The Tao is elusive and intangible.
Oh it is intangible and elusive, and yet within is image.
Oh it is elusive and intangible, and yet within is form.
Oh it is dim and dark, and yet within is essence.
This essence is very real, and therein lies faith.
From the very beginning until now its name has never been forgotten.
Thus I perceive the creation.
How do I know the ways of creation?
Because of this.

Tao-20

2006-03-17T12:03:00.000+05:30

Give up learning, and put an end to your troubles.
Is there a difference between yes and no?
Is there a difference between good and evil?
Must I fear what others fear?
What nonsence!
Other people are contented, enjoying the sacrificial feast of the ox.
In spring some go to the park, and climb the terrace, but I alone am drifting not knowing where I am.
Like a new-born babe before it learns to smile, I am alone, without a place to go.
Others have more than they need, but I alone have nothing.
I am a fool.
Oh, yes!
I am confused.
Other men are clear and bright, but I alone am dim and weak.
Other men are sharp and clever, but I alone am dull and stupid.
Oh, I drift like the waves of the sea.
Without direction, like the restless wind.
Everyone else is busy, but I alone am aimless and depressed.
I am different.
I am nourished by the great mother.

raga of the day----kanakAngi

2006-03-16T12:22:00.000+05:30

Aarohana:S R1 G1 M1 P D1 N1 S
Avarohana:S N1 D1 P M1 G1 R1 S

Kanakangaka---Koteeswara Iyer
Sri hapustrayanamosthuthe----Balamurali krishna
Srigananatham---Thyagaraja
Dasarathapala----Pallavi Sesha Iyer

Tao-19

2006-03-16T11:26:00.000+05:30

Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom, and it will be a hundred times better for everyone.
Give up kindness, renounce morality, and men will rediscover filial piety and love.
Give up ingenuity, renounce profit, and bandits and thieves will disappear.
These three are outward forms alone;
they are not sufficient in themselves.
It is more important to see the simplicity, to realise one's true nature, to cast off selfishness and temper desire.

Q & A with K.Balachander.

2006-03-15T14:31:00.000+05:30

Q) When Kannada filmmakers like Girish Kasaravalli and Malayalam Directors like Adoor Gopala Krishnan are making films with a conviction and seriousness towards film as an art form, why is it that most Tamil film makers, who are not less talented, are making films using a middle path to the so called safe formula of 'not too commercial not too serious and artistic? What is your opinion about this being a director who followed the same path?

A) The answer for such a long question is actually very simple. It’s like that and if I have to add anything, unfortunately, it’s like that. But honestly I am quite happy that I am considered as one among those who took this middle path instead of being an extremist.

Q) Many of your films deal with the social issues, especially, of women. These issue-based films, in the view of the producer, are a huge risk to make as they usually turn out to be failures at the box office. What is your opinion of these producers who put in money to make more money?

A) For those producers who are afraid to take risks they will always find filmmakers who are ready to make commercial formula films. When such films are enjoyable to the viewers it will never be a problem for anybody; everyone is safe, the producer, the director and the viewer except for one thing that is the art itself.

Q) How can one become a filmmaker like you?

A) Whatever I am today is because I worked with 100% conviction all through my life. So, if you are aspiring to be like me I suggest you to deal with art, especially filmmaking, with 100% sincerity, hard work and conviction.

Q) Some shots from your award winning film "Thaneer Thaneer" are similar to the shots from Akira Kurasawa's Ikiru and Godard's Breathless. Is it a possibility that while making Thaneer Thaneer these two film makers and the mentioned films, in particular, would have had an influence on your creative process? Or was it just a coincidence?

A) I have surely watched the films mentioned but I am not really sure if I watched these films prior to the making of "Thaneer Thaneer". I have always been a fond admirer of Akira Kurasawa and his films. If you are accusing (smiles) me of copying the shots from the films of Akira Kurasawa, the master of the art, I say, I am honored that my films carry a reflection of the art of one of the greatest filmmakers of the world.

Q) A scene in Thaneer Thaneer shows two illiterates carrying a newspaper to a man who can read. In this scene the actors’ placement is such that the literate person is seen sitting on an elevated position (on top of a hut) while the two illiterates stand below the hut. While shooting this scene, was that your intention to portray symbolically that a person who is literate will stand above the rest of his illiterate community? Or, like it happens many a times is it a figment of imagination aroused out of the mind of a serious viewer out of an admiration towards the director as an artist?

A) First of all, I feel elated that there are viewers who watch films with such sincerity and I feel so happy that after 26 years of making this film there are unnoticed details that are brought to my notice. As a director I really had no intention to portray that symbolism but today I feel that the symbolism is right and just. It might have been the idea of the cinematographer or some other member of the crew. I am happy that such fine detail of the film is pointed out now.

Q) Today, if one would like to watch Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali or Gurudutt's Pyaasa or for that matter any good Indian film form the past all we get is a poor quality CD or DVD with no subtitles, tarnished image and poor quality sound. That’s true with your films too. Don’t you think that it’s your responsibility as a filmmaker to restore and preserve the films from the past?

A) I totally agree with that point and the concern towards preserving the masterpieces from the past. But sadly the state of affairs of our film industry is very bad. Somebody has to do something about it.

Q) In concern with the previous question, don't you think that it’s your responsibility as a filmmaker to restore and preserve the films that you made as a director and producer? If so what are you doing towards it?

A) I am seriously concerned with the fact that the films from the past are to be restored and preserved for the future generations. But sadly I am just a part of the system. My film "Thaneer Thaneer", sadly' has no existing copy of the negative of the film. The producers who made this film are no more and it makes things even more difficult and impossible. But I am working towards it and I want to stress on the point that it’s high time that everyone in the film industry realized the importance of preserving the films.

Q) Why is it that most of your films deal with the issues of women?

A) May be because I love woman. I like woman and their issues.

Q) You have stated in many interviews that you consider Puttanna Kanagal (Kannada filmmaker), thought younger than you, as your guru in filmmaking. What is it that you learnt from him?
A) Age has got nothing to do with learning. You can learn from anybody and everybody. I liked and admired Puttana Kanagal, because, at the time when many of our filmmakers lacked the vision of filmmaking in terms of visuals he was the one who insisted on films being visual than oral. Apart from that his ability to churn out the human emotions from his actors was one of his kind.

Q) Your film, "Thaneer Thaneer" deals with the same issue, "State against her own people", like the recent film "Rang De Basanti". In both the films the general public or the so-called masses resort to violence in the end and the state fights against her own people. Even after 25 years of your film and almost 60 years of Indian independence do you think that there is no other alternative than taking up gun as a means of liberation?

A) If there were an alternative, people would have come up with that alternative. As there is no other suggestion, for me, history will repeat itself and people will always fight against state or, to be more specific, against the irresponsibility of the state and its measures.

Q) What was the influence of Russian films on you?

A) Quite honestly I haven't watched more than 2 or 3 Russian films.

Q) Long back you were seen in a role different than you are. You were seen in the role of an actor. Why is it that you haven't explored that facet of your life as an actor?
A) I have been an actor from the time I remember. As a director I act out and perform every role from my films. Yes I haven't shown myself on screen much, except from very few roles. I have acted in a minor but a significant role in my forth-coming Tamil film due to be released on April 14th. I hope you will enjoy watching me on screen as much as you enjoyed me behind the screen.

Q) After making waves with your TV serials people thought that you stopped making films. Now you are seen again concentrating on filmmaking. What made you shift back to filmmaking?

A) For me, both film and TV are visual mediums to portray and depict my thoughts and ideas. But my career as TV serial maker made me realize that my thought process is narrowing down. This realization made me to come back into films. I wish to make films with the same conviction.

Q) Of all the films you made what is your favorite film?

A) This is the most common question put to me. This was and is a very difficult question to answer. But I personally feel that "Punnagai", a Tamil film with Gemini Ganeshan and Nagesh in it, is one of the best films I ever made. In that film, I was really able to voice out my opinion and I was able to say something through that film. Sadly, that film did not farewell at the box office and I was not surprised because when I made Thaneer Thaneer I never expected it to be a commercial success. The film "Thaneer Thaneer" which dealt with acute water problems of a drought-ridden village of Tamilnadu was released on the Diwali day of 1981 and that day Tamilnadu witnessed one of a severe rainfall of those days. The distributors of that film were very much disturbed with the rain and of course the fate of the film. But as I believed that one-day's rain of cats and dogs was not the ultimate truth and the truth was far more than that unexpected rain. The people of Tamilnadu were able and ready to perceive and understand the same truth. That was the same reason, I believe, that made this so called art film a major commercial success.

Read more about K Balachander here . The Balachander Story

Tao-18

2006-03-15T09:49:00.000+05:30

When the great Tao is forgotten, kindness and morality arise.
When wisdom and intelligence are born, the great pretence begins.
When there is no peace within the family, filial piety and devotion arise.
When the country is confused and in chaos, loyal ministers appear.

raga of the day----bilahari

2006-03-15T09:45:00.000+05:30

Aarohanam: S R 2 G3 P D2 S
Avarohanam: S N3 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S

Dorakuna Ituvamti Seva---Tyagaraja
Inta Kanna---Tyagaraja
Kanbadeppodu---Ambuja Krishna
Saranu Janakana----Purandara Dasa
Vanthathuvum Ponathuvum----Oothukkadu Venkatasubbier

Maximum City-Bombay lost & found.

2006-03-15T09:26:00.001+05:30

This book by Suketu Mehta is gripping and makes a compulsive read. This non fictional account of the author's love affair with the city of Mumbai is travel writing at its best.

Excerpt:
There will soon be more people living in the city of Bombay than on the continent of Australia. Urbs Prima in Indis reads the plaque outside the Gateway of India. It is also the Urbs Prima in Mundis, at least in one area, the first test of the vitality of a city: the number of people living in it. With 14 million people, Bombay is the biggest city on the planet of a race of city dwellers. Bombay is the future of urban civilization on the planet. God help us.

I left Bombay in 1977 and came back twenty-one years later, when it had grown up to become Mumbai. Twenty-one years: enough time for a human being to be born, get an education, be eligible to drink, get married, drive, vote, go to war, and kill a man. In all that time, I hadn’t lost my accent. I speak like a Bombay boy; it is how I am identified in Kanpur and Kansas. “Where’re you from?” Searching for an answer—in Paris, in London, in Manhattan—I always fall back on “Bombay.” Somewhere, buried beneath the wreck of its current condition—one of urban catastrophe—is the city that has a tight claim on my heart, a beautiful city by the sea, an island-state of hope in a very old country. I went back to look for that city with a simple question: Can you go home again? In the looking, I found the cities within me.

I am a city boy. I was born in a city in extremis, Calcutta. Then I moved to Bombay and lived there nine years. Then to New York, eight years in Jackson Heights. A year, on and off, in Paris. Five years in the East Village. Scattered over time, another year or so in London. The only exceptions were three years in Iowa City, not a city at all, and a couple more in New Brunswick, New Jersey, college towns that prepared me for a return to the city. My two sons were born in a great city, New York. I live in cities by choice, and I’m pretty sure I will die in a city. I don’t know what to do in the country, though I like it well enough on weekends.

I come from a family of mercantile wanderers. My paternal grandfather left rural Gujarat for Calcutta in the salad days of the century, to join his brother in the jewelry business. When my grandfather’s brother first ventured into international territory, to Japan, in the 1930s, he had to come back and bow in apology before the caste elders, turban in his hands. But his nephews—my father and my uncle—kept moving, first to Bombay and then across the black water to Antwerp and New York, to add to what was given to them. My maternal grandfather left Gujarat for Kenya as a young man, and he now lives in London. My mother was born in Nairobi, went to college in Bombay, and now lives in New York. In my family, picking up and going to another country to live was never a matter for intense deliberation. You went where your business took you.

Once, with my grandfather, I went back to our ancestral house in Maudha, which used to be a village in Gujarat but is now a town. Sitting in the courtyard of the old house with its massive timbers, my grandfather began introducing us to the new owners, a family of Sarafs, Gujarati moneylenders, for whom Maudha was the big city. “And this is my son-in-law, who lives in Nigeria.”

“Nigeria,” said the Saraf, nodding.

“And this is my grandson, who is from New York.”

“New York,” the Saraf repeated, still nodding.

“And this is my granddaughter-in-law, who is from London.”

“London.”

“Now they both live in Paris.”

“Paris,” the Saraf dutifully recited. If at this point my grandfather had said he lived on the moon, the Saraf would, without batting an eyelid, have kept nodding and repeated, “Moon.” Our dispersal was so extreme that it bordered on the farcical. But here we were, visiting the house where my grandfather grew up, still together as a family. Family was the elastic that pulled us back together, no matter how far we wandered.

* * *

It was the muqabla, the commercial competition, that had forced my father to leave Calcutta. It was the way jewels were bought and sold in my grandfather’s business. A group of sellers would assemble at the buyer’s office with the broker at an appointed time. Then the negotiations would begin. The price was not said aloud but was indicated by the number of fingers held up under a loose corner of the seller’s dhoti, which would be grasped by the buyer. Part of the muqabla was loud abuse of the buyer. “Have you gone mad? Do you expect me to sell at these prices?” In a display of extreme frustration, the seller would storm out of the office, shouting loudly all the time. But he would be careful to forget his umbrella. Ten minutes later he would be back, to pick up the umbrella. By this time the buyer might have reconsidered and they might come to a conclusion, at which point the broker would say, “Then shake hands!” and there would be smiles all around. It was because of this little piece of theater that my father decided to leave the jewelry business in Calcutta. He could not stand the shouting and the abuse; he was an educated man.

My father’s brother had gone to Bombay in 1966, against the will of my grandfather, who saw no reason why he should leave. But my uncle was a young man, and the twilight in Calcutta had begun. In Bombay, he went into the diamond business. Three years later, my parents were passing through Bombay, after my little sister was born in Ahmadabad. My uncle, recently married, suggested to his brother, “Why don’t you stay?” So we did, four adults and two children, one a newborn, in a one-room flat, with guests always coming and going. We lived as a “joint family,” sharing the flat and the expenses, and the space expanded to fit us. How can 14 million people fit onto one island? As we did in that apartment off Teen Batti.

My father and my uncle found their niche in the diamond business. We moved to a two-bedroom flat above a palace by the sea, Dariya Mahal. The palace belonged to the Maharao of Kutch. A family of Marwari industrialists bought the palace and its grounds; they chopped down the trees on the land, cleared the antiques out of the palace, and put in schoolchildren. Around the palace they built a complex of three buildings: Dariya Mahal 1 and 2, twenty-story buildings that look like open ledgers, and Dariya Mahal 3, where I grew up, the squat, stolid, twelve-story stepchild.

My uncle and my father made regular business trips to Antwerp and America. When my father asked what he could bring back from America for me, I asked him for a scratch-and-sniff T-shirt, which I’d read about in some American magazine. He came back bringing a giant bag of marshmallows. I ate as many as I could of the huge white cottony things, and tried to make sense of the texture, before my aunt appropriated them. After one of those trips, according to my uncle, my father had an epiphany while shaving, as often happens when you’re facing yourself in a mirror without actively looking. He decided to move to America. Not for its freedom or its way of life; he moved there to make more money.

Each person’s life is dominated by a central event, which shapes and distorts everything that comes after it and, in retrospect, everything that came before. For me, it was going to live in America at the age of fourteen. It’s a difficult age at which to change countries. You haven’t quite finished growing up where you were and you’re never well in your skin in the one you’re moving to. I had absolutely no idea about the country America; I had never been there. I was certainly not of a later generation of my cousins, such as Sameer, who at the age of sixteen, stepped into JFK Airport fresh off the plane from Bombay wearing a Mets baseball cap and with half an American accent already in place. I traveled, in twenty-four hours, between childhood and adulthood, between innocence and knowledge, between predestination and chaos.

Everything that has happened since, every minute and monstrous act—the way I use a fork, the way I make love, my choice of a profession and a wife—has been shaped by that central event, that fulcrum of time.

There was a stack of Reader’s Digests in the back room of my grandfather’s Calcutta house, dark, hot, womblike. There, in my summers, I had read true-life adventures, spy stories of the dastardly Communists, and jokes the whole family could enjoy about the antics of children and servicemen. It was my introduction to America. Imagine my surprise when I got there. I was lucky, though I didn’t know it then, that of all the possible cities my father could have moved us to, he chose New York. “It’s just like Bombay.” Thus is New York explained to people in India.

In the first year after I got to America I sent for its previously inaccessible treasures, the merchandise advertised on the inside covers of the comic books. I ordered, for my friends in Bombay, the joy buzzer, the floating ghost, the hovercraft, and X-ray goggles. A brown box came in the mail. I looked at it for a few moments before opening it; here was what we had been denied all these years. Then the junk came spilling out. The floating ghost was a white plastic garbage-bin liner with a stick threaded through the top; you were supposed to hang it up and wave it around to scare people. The X-ray goggles were a pair of plastic glasses, like the 3-D glasses given out in science-fiction theaters, with a rough drawing of a skeleton on both lenses. The hovercraft was a sort of red fan, attached to a motor; when you turned it on, it really did rise over a flat surface. The joy buzzer was a small steel device that could be worn on the inside of the palm like a ring; you wound it up and when you shook the victim’s hand a knob was pressed and the device vibrated sharply. I looked at the mess spread out on the floor. I had been had before in Bombay; I knew the feeling well.

Nonetheless, I sent the package to my Bombay friends, with a letter suggesting possible uses for the gags; the ghost, for instance, could be lowered on a string to flap outside the balconies of the lower floors, possibly scaring small children in the dark.

I knew my gifts would be welcome. Whatever their quality, they were “imported” and therefore to be treasured. In our house in Bombay, there used to be a showcase in the living room. It displayed imported objects from Europe and America, the spoils of my uncle’s business trips: Matchbox cars, miniature bottles of spirits, a cylinder of long matches from London shaped like a Beefeater with a furry black hat as the top, a little model of the Eiffel Tower. There were toys, also, for the children—a battery-powered Apollo 11 rocket, a police cruiser with a blue revolving light, a doll that could drink and wet her diaper—which were almost never taken out for us. The kids in the building would assemble around the showcase and look up at the toys inside—toys we weren’t allowed to touch for fear of breaking them.

In America, too, we had a showcase in our house. In it were kept souvenirs from India: a pair of grandparent dolls, Dada dressed in a dhoti, Dadi in a cotton sari; a marble statue of Ganesh; a wooden mask of Hanuman; a little model of the Taj Mahal with a light that glowed from within; a bharata natyam dancer whose head moved sideways on her neck; and a bronze clock shaped like the official map of India with all of Kashmir reclaimed from the Pakistanis and the Chinese. When the new baby was born he wasn’t allowed to open the showcase and play with these objects. They were too fragile; he would hurt himself. He spent his time splayed against the glass door of the showcase, staring at his heritage, like a wasp at a window.

When I moved to New York, I missed Bombay like an organ of my body. I thought that when I left Bombay I had escaped from the worst school in the world. I was wrong. The all-boys Catholic school I went to in Queens was worse. It was in a working-class white enclave that was steadily being encroached upon by immigrants from darker countries. I was one of the first minorities to enroll, a representative of all they were trying to hold out against. Soon after I got there, a boy with curly red hair and freckles came up to my lunch table and announced, “Lincoln should never have freed the slaves.” The teachers called me a pagan. My school yearbook photo shows me looking at the camera with the caption, “It’s so strong I can even skip a day,” referring to an advertising slogan for a brand of antiperspirant. This was how the school saw me: as a stinking heathen, emitting the foul odors of my native cooking. On the day I graduated, I walked outside the barbed-wire-topped gates, put my lips to the pavement, and kissed the ground in gratitude.

In Jackson Heights we reapproximated Bombay, my best friend Ashish and I. Ashish had also been moved from Bombay to Queens, at the age of fifteen. The happiest afternoons of that time were when we went to see Hindi movies at the Eagle Theater. With one letter changed, it had formerly been the Earle Theater, a porn house. The same screen that had been filled with monstrous penises pullulating in mutant vaginas was now displaying mythologicals of the blue-skinned god Krishna; in these films not a breast, not even a kiss was shown. Maybe it was being purified. But I still scanned the seats carefully before sitting down on them.

Aavide Shyamala....

2006-03-13T16:33:00.000+05:30

Continuously discontinuous

2006-03-13T16:21:00.000+05:30

1 0

Raga of the day----Sama

2006-03-13T12:21:00.000+05:30

Aarohanam: S R21 P D2 S
Avarohanam: S D2 P M1 G3 R2 S

Manasa Sancharare---Sadashiva Brahmendra
Annapoorne---Muthuswami Dikshitar
Shantamulekha---Tyagaraja
Guruguaya Bhaktanugrahaya---Muthuswami Dikshitar

Lets salute the freewayblogger.

2006-03-13T12:19:00.000+05:30

Visit
http://www.freewayblogger.blogspot.com/
to know more.

S'He'

2006-03-13T11:53:00.000+05:30

Separately together

Tao-17

2006-03-13T11:28:00.000+05:30

The very highest is barely known by men.
Then comes that which they know and love, then that which is feared, then that which is despised.
He who does not trust enough will not be trusted.
When actions are performed without unnecessary speech, people say, "We did it!"

Their First Photo Together

2006-03-13T11:24:00.000+05:30

I regret

2006-03-10T14:07:00.000+05:30

I regret for not having watched Mani Shankar's Tango Charlie. After the debacle of his second film 'Rudraksh', I decided not to watch Tango Charlie. But only today I read the review of it and I feel sorry for being so biased and for ignoring the film. I would definitely watch it in the coming future for what it is but not how it is, as it is a proven fact that the film is bad.

What impresses me is the idea of the film. It is the story of a soldier told through four different tales of four different wars he fought. Again, the novelty of the idea is in chosing the wars. These wars are not the much screened Indo-Pak wars but the day to day internal wars fought with in ourselves, the war with the Naxals, the war with Bodo etc....
Read the review for more info.

Tango Charlie Review:
Coutesy.
http://www.radiosargam.com/movies/moviereviews/t/tangocharlie.htm
BACKGROUND:
The film is based on the director’s thought process which says that Western Europe and the US haven’t fought a war on its soil for the last 60 years because they have always exported their wars to other poorer nations and made them fight. The director also feels that some part of the world is always at war, keeping their armaments industry bulging with profits. And whenever an Indian or Pakistani or Iraqi or Palestinian or Afghan soldier dies, someone in Europe or the US makes a buck. That’s the rip-off economics of war. The result is a film called Tango Charlie, which has a different take than any other war film. Hence Mani Shankar calls his film an anti-war film.

SYNOPSIS:
The film is not about war between two nations, but about the small skirmishes that take place in a country like in any civil war. But here, the emphasis is on this young man Tarun Chauhan alias Tango Charlie (Bobby Deol). Deol has been found on the border – injured. Vikram Rathore (Sanjay Dutt) and Shezaad Khan (Sunil Shetty) locate him in the mountains and then they read his diary which tells them four fascinating tales that Tarun Chauhan has been a part of many wars from the Bodo insurgency in the north east of India which has many victims, to the Kargil conflict which is the most picturised war scene in Bollywood in the past few years and films.

The sory in the first war is about BSF Battalion 101 where he is working with Hawaldar Mohammed Ali (Ajay Devgan), who is the guru of Tarun Chauhan. A Chinese insurgent soldier (Kelly Dorjee) is instigating local Bodos in their war and sponsors their war against the government. Tarun is taught how to fight with such an enemy by Hawalar Mohammed Ali. The sex based jokes shared by the armymen among other things add a lot of fun to this story here.

Chauhan turns out to be a soldier who does not believe in fighting. Unlike in Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon where he wants a life of comfort, Bobby Deol believes in peace. He does not like to kill anyone at all. However he does not mind lifting up the gun to protect his fellow countrymen unlike the soldier Dev Anand played in Prem Pujari of the pacifist soldier who is was court-martialed for not firing at the enemy.

The Deccan plateau in Maharashtra and Karnataka has been witnessing few stories of naxalite attacks. How civilians are made a scapegoat in this fight is the narrative of the second tale.

The fights on the homefront with local hoodlums that was shown in the war film Prahaar also takes place in this film as well – Ajay Devgan replacing Anan Patekar in a similar tale with Devgan in Bengal.

The fourth story is about the Kargil conflict and that’s where the story is set in the climax. By the way, Mohamed Ali has a love interest and so does Tarun. But they don’t really matter to the story.

CRITIQUE:
The film terraces the walk of the foot soldier. It is not the story of the top armymen. Bollywood stars have mostly played senior officers in the defence forces. Tango Charlie changes that. The film emphasizes on the thought that war is brutal and terrifying. It reduces us to our most inhuman and cruel selves. The shuttling between different stories tells us that India is burning all around its borders. Each day several Indian soldiers die in a war of attrition in many theatres of conflicts.
The director has tried to say that hush descends in every street of Srinagar and the fear is so thick you can cut it with a knife.

If these thoughts are true, they should have been part of a documentary film and not a feature film. The film unwittingly is camouflaged like the hero in the attire of a war film.

There are two love stories and two music directors in the film in the form of Anu Malik and Anand Raaj Anand. Both of them could have been shot down like enemies before the war or rather the film had not started. These commercial elements thus impacted the growth of the film into what could have been a powerful docudrama at least. The film thus does not remain true to its thought that songs are not a part of a war film.

Ajay Devgan excels in his performance and so does Bobby. The women are wasted. Kelly Dorjee makes a decent debut. I am waiting to see him work with girlfriend Lara Dutta soon. It is these performances and the thought behind the film that sets it apart.

CONCLUSION:
Tango Charlie needed a better name to have some commercial chances. Many have not even understood the name of the film.

Reviewed by: Tony

+++++++++++++++++++++
Trivia:
Question:What's Mani Shankar up to these days?
Answer: was last seen making a short film on YS Rajasekhar Reddy on the eve of Bush's visit to Hyderabad.

Short term goals

2006-03-10T13:48:00.000+05:30

1)Finish writing the novel by April 15th
2)Finish reading "The Wretched of the Earth" by Frantz Fanon
3)Finish writing the script by the end of July
4)Finish reading "The Hunted" by Mudra Rakshasha
5)Finish Finish Finish Finish

An Extract from "The Wretched of the Earth"
Not so very long ago, the earth numbered two thousand million inhabitants: five hundred million men, and one thousand five hundred million natives. The former had the Word; the others had the use of it. Between the two there were hired kinglets, overlords, and a bourgeoisie, sham from beginning to end, which served as go-betweens. In the colonies the truth stood naked, but the citizens of the mother country preferred it with clothes on: the native had to love them, something in the way mothers are loved. The European elite undertook to manufacture a native elite. They picked out promising adolescents; they branded them, as with a red-hot iron, with the principles of Western culture; they stuffed their mouths full with high-sounding phrases, grand glutinous words that stuck to the teeth. After a short stay in the mother country they were sent home, whitewashed. These walking lies had nothing left to say to their brothers; they only echoed. From Paris, from London, from Amsterdam we would utter the words "Parthenon! Brotherhood!" and somewhere in Africa or Asia lips would open "...thenon! ...therhood!" It was the golden age.

It came to an end; the mouths opened by themselves; the yellow and black voices still spoke of our humanism but only to reproach us with our inhumanity. We listened without displeasure to these polite statements of resentment, at first with proud amazement. What? They are able to talk by themselves? Just look at what we have made of them! We did not doubt but that they would accept our ideals, since they accused us of not being faithful to them. Then, indeed, Europe could believe in her mission; she had hellenized the Asians; she had created a new breed, the Greco-Latin Negroes. We might add, quite between ourselves, as men of the world: "After all, let them bawl their heads off, it relieves their feelings; dogs that bark don't bite."

I

2006-03-10T11:34:00.000+05:30

I seek refuge in art
I find solace in her
I hear God in music
I see myself in you

Tao-16

2006-03-10T11:17:00.000+05:30

Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind rest at peace.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
The way of nature is unchanging.
Knowing constancy is insight.
Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.
Knowing constancy, the mind is open.
With an open mind, you will be openhearted.
Being openhearted, you will act royally.
Being royal, you will attain the divine.
Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.

raga of the day----saveri

2006-03-10T11:12:00.000+05:30

Arohana:S R1 M1 P D1 S
Avarohana:S N3 D1 PM1 G3 R1 S

Balamu Kulamu---Tyagaraja
Anjaneya Raghurama---Swati Tirunaal
Durusugaa Kripaa---Syama Sastry
Venkataramanane Baro---Purandara Dasa
Deenudanenu Devudavu Neevu---Annamayya
Sriraja Gopala---Muthuswami Dikshitar

Gods and angels

2006-03-10T11:06:00.000+05:30

I am not God.
But,
She is an angel.

raga of the day----Hemavthi

2006-03-09T11:46:00.000+05:30

Aarohanam S R2 G2 M2 P D2 N2 S
Avarohanam: S N2 D2 P M2 G2 R2 S

Sri Kanthimathim---Muthuswamy Dikshitar
Nee Sari Sati ----Tyagaraja
Ennai Katharul ----Papanasam Sivan

Tao-15

2006-03-09T11:45:00.000+05:30

The ancient masters were subtle, mysterious, profound, responsive.
The depth of their knowledge is unfathomable.
Because it is unfathomable, all we can do is describe their appearance.
Watchful, like men crossing a winter stream.
Alert, like men aware of danger.
Courteous, like visiting guests.
Yielding, like ice about to melt.
Simple, like uncarved blocks of wood.
Hollow, like caves.
Opaque, like muddy pools.
Who can wait quietly while the mud settles?
Who can remain still until the moment of action?
Observers of the Tao do not seek fulfilment.
Not seeking fulfillment, they are not swayed by desire for change.

parrot? flower?

2006-03-09T11:40:00.000+05:30

Parrot Flower

raga of the day-Pantuvarali

2006-03-08T15:32:00.000+05:30

Arohana:S R1 G3 M2 P D1 N3 S
Avarohana:S N3 D1 P M2 G3 R1 S

Shobaane ---Tyagaraja
Sundaradara Deham---Tyagaraja
Saroruhasana Jaye ----Swati Tirunaal
Sarasaksha Paripalayamam ---Swati Tirunaal
Raghuvara Nannu---Tyagaraja
Aathi Nirupama---Oothukkadu Venkatasubbier

Tao-14

2006-03-08T15:30:00.000+05:30

Look, it cannot be seen - it is beyond form.
Listen, it cannot be heard - it is beyond sound.
Grasp, it cannot be held - it is intangible.
These three are indefinable;
Therefore they are joined in one.
From above it is not bright;
From below it is not dark:
An unbroken thread beyond description.
It returns to nothingness.
The form of the formless, the image of the imageless, it is called indefinable and beyond imagination.
Stand before it and there is no beginning.
Follow it and there is no end.
Stay with the ancient Tao, move with the present.
Knowing the ancient beginning is the essence of Tao.

Tao-13

2006-03-07T09:44:00.000+05:30

Accept disgrace willingly.
Accept misfortune as the human condition.
What do you mean by "Accept disgrace willingly"?
Accept being unimportant.
Do not be concerned with loss and gain.
This is called "accepting disgrace willingly".
What do you mean by "Accept misfortune as the human condition"?
Misfortune comes from having a body.
Without a body, how could there be misfortune?
Surrender yourself humbly;
then you can be trusted to care for all things.
Love the world as your own self;
then you can truly care for all things.

raga of the day---Mohanam

2006-03-07T09:38:00.000+05:30

aarohana---S R2 G3 P D2 S
avarohana--- S D2 P G3 R2 S

Bhavanutha Na ---Tyagaraja
Evarura----Tyagaraja
Giridhara Gopala---Papanasam Sivan
Podakanti---Annamayya
Swagatham Krishna---Oothukkadu Venkata Subbaier
Yen Palli Kondeeraiyya----Arunachala Kavirayar
Narasimha Agacha---Muthuswami Dikshitar

A man left his house

2006-03-03T10:46:00.000+05:30

A man left his house
With a cane and a sack,
Set off
Down the road
And never looked back.

He walked ever onward,
He walked ever straight,
Never slept,
Never drank,
Never drank, slept, or ate.

He came to a forest
As dark as the night.
He walked
Right in
And vanished from sight.

But if ever you chance
To meet up with this man
Oh please
Let us know
As quick as you can.

-----Daniil Kharms

Tao-12

2006-03-03T10:40:00.000+05:30

The five colours blind the eye.
The five tones deafen the ear.
The five flavours dull the taste.
Racing and hunting madden the mind.
Precious things lead one astray.
Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.
He lets go of that and chooses this.

Raga of the day---Amritavarshini

2006-03-03T10:35:00.000+05:30

Aarohana:S G3 M2 P N3 S
Avarohana:S N3 P M2 G3 S

Enai Nee Maravade----M.M.Dandapani Deshikar
Anandamirthakarshini---Muthuswami Dikshitar
Anni Mantramulu---Annamayya
Sarasiruha Nayanei---Tyagaraja

Tao-11

2006-03-02T11:40:00.000+05:30

Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.

Bush in India: Just Not Welcome

2006-03-02T11:38:00.000+05:30

From the Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060313/roy
Bush in India: Just Not Welcome
Arundhati Roy

On his triumphalist tour of India and Pakistan, where he hopes to wave imperiously at people he considers potential subjects, President Bush has an itinerary that's getting curiouser and curiouser.

For Bush's March 2 pit stop in New Delhi, the Indian government tried very hard to have him address our parliament. A not inconsequential number of MPs threatened to heckle him, so Plan One was hastily shelved. Plan Two was to have Bush address the masses from the ramparts of the magnificent Red Fort, where the Indian prime minister traditionally delivers his Independence Day address. But the Red Fort, surrounded as it is by the predominantly Muslim population of Old Delhi, was considered a security nightmare. So now we're into Plan Three: President George Bush speaks from Purana Qila, the Old Fort.

Ironic, isn't it, that the only safe public space for a man who has recently been so enthusiastic about India's modernity should be a crumbling medieval fort?

Since the Purana Qila also houses the Delhi zoo, George Bush's audience will be a few hundred caged animals and an approved list of caged human beings, who in India go under the category of "eminent persons." They're mostly rich folk who live in our poor country like captive animals, incarcerated by their own wealth, locked and barred in their gilded cages, protecting themselves from the threat of the vulgar and unruly multitudes whom they have systematically dispossessed over the centuries.

So what's going to happen to George W. Bush? Will the gorillas cheer him on? Will the gibbons curl their lips? Will the brow-antlered deer sneer? Will the chimps make rude noises? Will the owls hoot? Will the lions yawn and the giraffes bat their beautiful eyelashes? Will the crocs
recognize a kindred soul? Will the quails give thanks that Bush isn't traveling with Dick Cheney, his hunting partner with the notoriously bad aim? Will the CEOs agree?

Oh, and on March 2, Bush will be taken to visit Gandhi's memorial in Rajghat. He's by no means the only war criminal who has been invited by the Indian government to lay flowers at Rajghat. (Only recently we had the Burmese dictator General Than Shwe, no shrinking violet himself.) But when Bush places flowers on that famous slab of highly polished stone, millions of Indians will wince. It will be as though he has poured a pint of blood on the memory of Gandhi. We really would prefer that he didn't.

It is not in our power to stop Bush's visit. It is in our power to protest it, and we will. The government, the police and the corporate press will do everything they can to minimize the extent of our outrage. Nothing the happy newspapers say can change the fact that all over India, from the biggest cities to the smallest villages, in public places and private homes, George W. Bush, the President of the United States of America, world nightmare incarnate, is just not welcome.

Raga of the day---anandabhairavi

2006-03-02T11:32:00.000+05:30

aarohana:S G1 R2 G1 M1 P D1 P S
avarohana:S N1 D2 P M1 G1 R2 S

Neeke Teliyaka ---Tyagaraja
Himachala Tanaya---Syama Sastry
Singaravelavan---Papansam Sivan
Thyagarajayoga ---Muthuswami Dikshitar
Ksheera Sagara---Tyagaraja
Maanasa Guruguha---Muthuswami Dikshitar
Marivere Gathi Evaramma---Syama Sastry
Paluke Bangaramayena---Bhadrachala Ramadas
Rama Rama Nivaramu---Tyagaraja

Rumi

2006-02-28T17:40:00.000+05:30

I swear, since seeing Your face,
the whole world is fraud and fantasy
The garden is bewildered as to what is leaf
or blossom. The distracted birds
can't distinguish the birdseed from the snare.

A house of love with no limits,
a presence more beautiful than venus or the moon,
a beauty whose image fills the mirror of the heart.

Tao-10

2006-02-28T17:38:00.000+05:30

Carrying body and soul and embracing the one, can you avoid separation?
Attending fully and becoming supple, can you be as a newborn babe?
Washing and cleansing the primal vision, can you be without stain?
Loving all men and ruling the country, can you be without cleverness?
Opening and closing the gates of heaven, can you play the role of woman?
Understanding and being open to all things, are you able to do nothing?
Giving birth and nourishing, bearing but not possessing, working yet not taking credit, leading yet not dominating, this is the Primal Virtue.

Raga of the Day---Shanmukhapriya

2006-02-28T17:32:00.000+05:30

Aarohana:S R2 G2 M2 P D1 N2 S
Avarohana:S N2 D1 P M2 G2 R2 S

Kannanai Pani Maname---Papanasam Sivan
Marivere Gathi Evaramma---Tyagarja
Parama Purusha---Annamayya
Palu Vicharamulela ---Annamayya
Siddhi Vinayakam---Dikshitar

We the living----Kira

2006-02-28T10:34:00.000+05:30

Kira Argounova went to school in Yalta. The school dining room had many tables. at luncheon, girls sat at these tables in couples, in fours, in dozens. Kira always sat at a table in a corner-alone.
One day her class declared a boycott against a little freckled girl who had incurred the displeasure of her most popular calssmate, a loud-voiced young lady who had a smile, a handshake and a command ready for everyone.
That noon, at luncheon, the little table in the corner of the dining room was occupied by two students: Kira and the freckled girl. They were half through their bowls of buck wheat mush, when the indignant class leader approached them.

"Do you know what you're doing, Argounova?" she asked, eyes blazing.
"Eating mush," answered Kira. "Won't you sit down?"
"Do you know what this girl here has done?"
"I haven't the slightest idea."
"You haven't? Then why are you doing this for her?"
"You're mistaken. I am not doing this for her, I am doing it against twenty- eight other girls."
"So you think its smart to go against the majority?"
"I think that when in doubt about the truth of an issue,its safer and in better taste to select the least numerous of the adveraries....May I have the salt please?"

Raga of the day-Khamboji

2006-02-28T10:26:00.000+05:30

Aarohana:S R G M P D S
Avarohana:S N D P M G R S

Sree Subrahmanyaya---Dikshitar
EavriMaata ---Tyagaraja
Kuzhaloodhi Manamellam ---Oothukad venkata kavi
Ma Janaki ---Tyagaraja
O Rangasaayi---Tyagaraja
Sarasijanabha ---Swati Tirunaal
Simha Roopanade----Purandara Dasa

Tao-9

2006-02-28T10:21:00.000+05:30

Better stop short than fill to the brim.
Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt.
Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it.
Claim wealth and titles, and disaster will follow.
Retire when the work is done.
This is the way of heaven.

he, she and god

2006-02-27T17:21:00.000+05:30

He
“I am stupid. Am I?”

She
“I could paint the skies with it,instead I whisper, Love you as you are.”

God
“My child, she was your mother eighteen lifetimes ago.”

Raga of the day:Sahana

2006-02-27T12:28:00.000+05:30

Aarohanam:S R G M P M D N S
Avarohanam:S N D P M G M R G R S

Kritis:
Vandanamu Raghunandana ---Tyagaraja
Chittam Irangaada ---Papanasam Sivan
Manamu Kalavanu --Muthiah Bhagavathar
Sri Kamalambikayam---Dikshtar
Rama ikanannu ---Pattnam Subramania Iyer

No god in sight

2006-02-27T12:23:00.000+05:30

The narrative style is innovative but the writing is just ok and so are the stories
--Mostly invented. No touch of genuinity.

Tao-8

2006-02-27T12:22:00.000+05:30

8
The supreme good is like water,
which benefits all of creation
without trying to compete with it.
It gathers in unpopular places.
Thus it is like the Tao.

The location makes the dwelling good.
Depth of understanding makes the mind good.
A kind heart makes the giving good.
Integrity makes the government good.
Accomplishments makes your labors good.
Proper timing makes a decision good.

Only when there is no competition
will we all live in peace.

Pics--Feb4th

2006-02-22T11:45:00.000+05:30

Music

2006-02-22T11:26:00.000+05:30

Tao-7

2006-02-21T16:38:00.000+05:30

Heaven and Earth last for ever.
Why do Heaven and Earth last for ever?
They are unborn, so ever living.
The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead.
He is detached, thus at one with all.
Through selfless action, he attains fulfillment.

Raga of the day---Bhairavi

2006-02-21T15:31:00.000+05:30

Aarohanam:S G R G M P D N S
Avarohanam:S N D P M G R S

Kritis:

Rama Kothanda Rama---Tyagaraja
Mariyada Gadayya---Tyagaraja
Kantimi Vintimi----Annamayya
Kamakshi Amba---Syama Sastry
Janani Mamava---Swati Tirunal
Ika Nannu Brovakunna---Pallavi Seshiyer

Tao-6

2006-02-20T15:41:00.000+05:30

The valley spirit never dies;
It is the woman, primal mother.
Her gateway is the root of heaven and earth.
It is like a veil barely seen.
Use it;
it will never fail.

Film of the Day---Heights

2006-02-20T15:34:00.000+05:30

Raga of the Day--Hamsanandi

2006-02-20T15:26:00.000+05:30

aarohanam:S R1 G3 M2 D2 N3 S
avarohanam:S N3 D2 M2 G3 R1 S

Kritis:
Thirupathi Venkataramana ---Purandara Dasa
Guruvina Gulaama - Purandara Dasa
Indira Naamamu--Annamayya
Sreenivasa Thiru Venkatamudaya--Papanasam Sivan

Film of the Day---before sunrise

2006-02-20T10:12:00.000+05:30

Raga of the Day--karaharapriya

2006-02-20T09:53:00.001+05:30

Aarohanam: S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N2 S
Avarohanam: S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S

Kritis:
raamaa nee samaanamevaru --- Tyagaraja
Chakkaniraja---Tyagaraja
Pakkala nilabadi---Tyagaraja
Paramukam ---Papanasam Sivan

Tao-5

2006-02-20T09:53:00.000+05:30

Heaven and earth are ruthless;
They see the ten thousand things as dummies.
The wise are ruthless;
They see the people as dummies.
The space between heaven and earth is like a bellows.
The shape changes but not the form;
The more it moves, the more it yields.
More words count less.
Hold fast to the center.

End of the affair

2006-02-17T11:56:00.000+05:30

A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.

Raga of the Day--Kalyani

2006-02-17T10:20:00.000+05:30

Aarohana:SR2G3M2PD2N3S
Avarohana:SN3D2PM2G3R2S

Kritis:
Himadhri Suthe--Shyama Sastry
Sundari Nee Divya--Tyagaraja
Nidhi Chaala Sukhama--Tyagaraja
Nanu Brovamani Cheppave--Ramadas
Thalli Ninnu--Shyama Sastry
Vasudeva Yani Vedalina--Tyagaraja
E tavunara Nilakada--Tyagaraja
Saarasa Lochana---Swati Tirunal
Ninnana Valasina--Tyagaraja

Tao-4

2006-02-17T10:19:00.000+05:30

The Tao is an empty vessel;
it is used, but never filled.
Oh, unfathomable source of ten thousand things!
Blunt the sharpness;
untangle the knot;
Soften the glare;
Merge with dust.
Oh, hidden deep but ever present!
I do not know from whence it comes.
It is the forefather of the emperors.

Weekend Special---GuruDutt film festival

2006-02-17T10:01:00.000+05:30

Tao-3

2006-02-16T12:30:00.000+05:30

Not exalting the gifted prevents quarrelling.
Not collecting treasure prevents stealing.
Not seeing desirable things prevents confusion of the heart.
The wise therefore rule by emptying hearts and stuffing bellies, by weakening ambitions and strengthening bones.
If people lack knowledge and desire, then intellectuals will not try to interfere.
If nothing is done, then all will be well.

Film of the Day--Man of the year(O Homem Do Ano)

2006-02-16T11:43:00.000+05:30

Raga of the Day--Abheri

2006-02-16T11:23:00.000+05:30

Aarohanam: SG2M1PN2S
Avarohanam: SN2D2PM1G2R2S

Veena Bheri---Dikshitar
Nagumomu ganaleni---Tyagaraja
Ninuvina marigalada---SyamaSatry
Nanda gopla---Oothukadu Venkata Kavi

12 cartoons

2006-02-15T17:32:00.000+05:30

And the Results.....

Raga of the Day--SankaraBharanam

2006-02-15T11:31:00.000+05:30

Aarohana:S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N2 S
Avarohana:S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S

Kritis:
Buddhi radhu--Tyagaraja
Endhuku peddala--Tyagaraja
Sarojadalanetri--Syama Sastry
Alarulu Guriyaga--Annamayya
Vara leela gana---Tyagaraja

Rumi

2006-02-15T10:02:00.000+05:30

I've had enough of sleepless nights, of my unspoke grief, of my tired wisdom. Come my treasure, my breath of life come and dress my wounds and be my cure. Enough of words. Come to me without a sound.

Tao-2

2006-02-15T09:20:00.000+05:30

Under Heaven all can see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness.
All can know good as good only because there is evil.
Therefore having and not having arise together.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short contrast with each other;
High and low rest upon each other;
Voice and sound harmonise each other;
Front and back follow one another.
Therefore the sage goes about doing nothing, teaching no talking.
The ten thousand things rise and fall without cease, creating, yet not possessing, working, yet not taking credit, work is done, then forgotten.
Therefore it lasts for ever.

Film of the Day---The Film

2006-02-15T09:17:00.000+05:30

Raga of the Day--Hindolam

2006-02-14T14:50:00.000+05:30

Aarohana:SaGa2Ma1Da1Ni2Sa

Avarohana:SaNi2Da1Ma1Ga2Sa

Kritis:Samaja vara gamana---Tyagaraja
Sama gana lole---GNB
Neerajakshi kamakshi---Dikshitar
Mansauloni marmamu----Tyagaraja
Yaare Ranganaa---Purandara Dasa
Sama gana lolane---Papanasam Sivan