My external hard disk crashed last week. It had more than 200 downloaded movies, lots of music and a ton of scanned pix on it. Devastating, right? But I didn't lose my cool. I was sorely tempted to rave and rant about it. But all that I really wished I could have saved were the pictures.
It took me almost a year's worth of weekend scanning of endless old b&w negatives, many of them over 50 years old, and then carefully processing them to get visible images of the past. All that toil and trouble gone to waste!
Of course I still have the negatives, and if need be I will do the work all over again. But you know how it feels like.
I am trying to see if the hard disk can be salvaged, by taking it to professionals next week. Let's see what happens.
Read more!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
K.I.S.S.
At a recent computer expo, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 mile to the gallon."
In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating, "If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:
• For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a day.
• Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car.
• Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart and drive on.
• Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart. In which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
• Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought "CarXP" or "CarNT." But then you would have to buy more seats.
• Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five percent of the roads.
• The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single "general car fault" warning light.
• New seats would force everyone to have the same size body.The airbag system would say "Are you sure?" before going off.
• Occasionally for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
• GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need them nor want them.
• Every time GM introduced a new model car, buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
• You'd press the "Start" button to shut off the engine.
But seriously, why should computers be so cumbersome to use? When you switch on the PC, it doesn't just come on. First you see some messages on screen about Windows booting up followed by a blank screen. Then the Windows logo shows up. After that, the "user-friendly" desktop come on, and icons start to show up one by one. There is a spate of programs starting up, while you watch all this impatiently. And finally, the wait is over, you can open up your email program, see that there's nothing but junk email in your inbox (the thought "Nobody loves me!" flashes through your mind), then you go through the same process in reverse order to shut down the PC.
We have gotten so used to the above steps that we now take it for granted. WHY? Why should PCs not be as easy to start up as a common TV? Just switch it on, it starts instantly, taking you to the channel you were watching last night. You want to switch to another channel, just press a button on the remote. You get bored, you click the red button and the TV is off.
Oh, so the PC companies are now launching "Media PCs" which will allow us to control multimedia content we watch at home, directly from our PCs? Wow. So now while the kid is wailing in the other room, we are going to be busy fiddling about with the mp3 streamed content on our wireless networked PC in the living room, so that the "Lullaby" playlist on our iPods can stream onto the surround speakers in the kid's room!
PCs should be even simpler to use than they are at present. This comes from the person who started his PC experience with DOS 3.3 which had a command-line interface with a blinking cursor! If you didn't remember the correct command, you couldn't do anything with the machine. It was akin to having to learn a child's baby language to communicate with it, instead of teaching it yours!
The OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project should be something to watch out for. A $100 laptop for every child! Check out the prototype pictures here: http://olpc.com/pictures.html
I like the look of those green machines! Don't you? Read more!
Monday, May 14, 2007
It's not the bike!
A few months back, I needed to have some formal pictures of myself taken for an official press release. Naturally, I was told this just a day before the pictures were actually needed. Now these pictures needed an official corporate setting as the background, so what I thought of was to have someone skilled enough to handle a camera to click a few pix in the office.
So I brought along my semi-professional camera to the office, and asked a colleague to click my pictures, with the official company banner providing a suitable background. Now this guy has been proclaiming himself to be a professional photographer, and in fact, has been handing his visiting card around which has his name in a fancy font and duly gives his designation as "Photographer". Apparently he has been getting commissions on clicking portraits, covering weddings etc.
So one might assume that I was in safe hands, as far as getting a nice clear pic was concerned.
I don't want to turn this into a suspense thriller, so let me say right now that the pix did come out okay.
No, what gave me some food for thought was when during this photoshoot, I asked him if he could take a few pix with me in the foreground in sharp relief against a slightly unfocused company logo in the background.
So what does this skilled photographer say? "Well, my own professional SLR camera does have a switch which creates this effect, but since your camera doesn't have that switch, I can't do it."
Say what?
I, with my admittedly elementary knowledge of photography, had made it a point to read up as much as I could on the basics of photography, once I bought my camera last year. I visited various sites on the net, studied all the technical terms, even though not everything made sense immediately, but I persevered. And one of the first few things I learnt was F-stops which is essentially the aperture (or the hole through which the image is captured). The larger this aperture value, the smaller the opening through which light passes into the camera, and the sharper the background.
So to get a slightly hazy background, all you need to do is use a smaller F-stop value on the camera.
I felt like quoting the title of Lance Armstrong's autobiography to this guy, "It's Not About The Bike!"
But more than that, this incident made me think about why we perceive someone as experts in their field. Just because they themselves said so?
I find myself constantly downplaying my own skills and/or knowledge, because I (and most Indians) have been brought up and socially indoctrinated to feel that humility and a self-effacing attitude are what makes a person. Being a show-off and blowing one's own trumpet were always frowned upon as being boorish and undesirable.
Social mores seem to have changed though, even in the home country. A me-first attitude seems to have taken over. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Nonetheless, I still believe in this adage,"A truly knowledgeable person knows that he doesn't know anything."
To add a twist to that, here's Mrs. Golda Meir to a diplomat,"Don't be so humble. You are not that great." Read more!
So I brought along my semi-professional camera to the office, and asked a colleague to click my pictures, with the official company banner providing a suitable background. Now this guy has been proclaiming himself to be a professional photographer, and in fact, has been handing his visiting card around which has his name in a fancy font and duly gives his designation as "Photographer". Apparently he has been getting commissions on clicking portraits, covering weddings etc.
So one might assume that I was in safe hands, as far as getting a nice clear pic was concerned.
I don't want to turn this into a suspense thriller, so let me say right now that the pix did come out okay.
No, what gave me some food for thought was when during this photoshoot, I asked him if he could take a few pix with me in the foreground in sharp relief against a slightly unfocused company logo in the background.
So what does this skilled photographer say? "Well, my own professional SLR camera does have a switch which creates this effect, but since your camera doesn't have that switch, I can't do it."
Say what?
I, with my admittedly elementary knowledge of photography, had made it a point to read up as much as I could on the basics of photography, once I bought my camera last year. I visited various sites on the net, studied all the technical terms, even though not everything made sense immediately, but I persevered. And one of the first few things I learnt was F-stops which is essentially the aperture (or the hole through which the image is captured). The larger this aperture value, the smaller the opening through which light passes into the camera, and the sharper the background.
So to get a slightly hazy background, all you need to do is use a smaller F-stop value on the camera.
I felt like quoting the title of Lance Armstrong's autobiography to this guy, "It's Not About The Bike!"
But more than that, this incident made me think about why we perceive someone as experts in their field. Just because they themselves said so?
I find myself constantly downplaying my own skills and/or knowledge, because I (and most Indians) have been brought up and socially indoctrinated to feel that humility and a self-effacing attitude are what makes a person. Being a show-off and blowing one's own trumpet were always frowned upon as being boorish and undesirable.
Social mores seem to have changed though, even in the home country. A me-first attitude seems to have taken over. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Nonetheless, I still believe in this adage,"A truly knowledgeable person knows that he doesn't know anything."
To add a twist to that, here's Mrs. Golda Meir to a diplomat,"Don't be so humble. You are not that great." Read more!
Monkeys and Superheroes
Is it possible to believe simultaneously in Darwin's theory as well as in the existence of Hanumaan (the Monkey God, for the uninitiated)?
Can religious faith and scientific curiosity coexist in the same human mind?
Read on for my unique theory! :-)
I recently finished reading Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion". It's a heavy read, not because of the size of the book, but more so because of the gravity of the ideas he keeps springing up. They take some time to assimilate. The book is mainly aimed at proponents of monotheistic religions, especially the religious right in US. I realised by reading this book and by discussing it some western friends that even in this day & age, the hardliners in the US deny the Darwin Theory and in fact are virulently against teaching the Evolution theory to their children in schools. There are regular protests and banning of Darwin's opus "On the Origin of Species". I think it's still banned in the US.
The main thing is that following one school of thought apparently precludes believing in the other. It's as if the other camp is the enemy, never to be understood.
Dawkins however doesn't specifically mention Hinduism or Buddhism as being against the evolution theory. And that got me thinking. I haven't heard of any Hindu religious sentiments being specifically focused against scientific thought etc. We are much more preoccupied with the depiction (or rather non-depiction!) of nudity in modern art, you see! Think M F Husain, think the young student, Chandra Mohan, in the prestigious Arts College who has been jailed for 5 days without trial in Baroda, Gujarat. But I digress.
So how are we Indians able to simultaneously believe in our ancient gods and goddesses, as well as believe in modern scientific thought?
The answer came to me when I was watching "The Jungle Book" last week. It is of course a thoroughly enjoyable tale, and children of all ages love it. Especially Baloo the bear, Bagheera the panther and of course King Louis, the monkey king!
However, if kids come across these animals in real life, they are not really likely to run over and hug them, are they? The line between fantasy (or rather, a willing suspension of disbelief) while watching movies and between the actual hard reality of the world is very clearly understood by even little children.
What sets us Indians apart from the rest of the world in this matter is Bollywood! Anyone brought up on a steady diet of fantastic movies about superheroes bashing up 20 baddies, heroines with the with the body of a sexbomb and still retaining a virginal aura (Mumtaz comes to mind here), villains with a heart of coal and a laugh to match, will know what I'm talking about.
But when we come out of the movie hall, we switch off the gullibility switch in our brain, and when we see a girl being accosted by 10 baddies in a dark lane, we do what any sensible right thinking person would do; we run the other way! :-)
So my theory is that the reason we Indians are more prepared than most to deal with ambiguities and paradoxes in real life is because we have been trained from the very childhood to believe in and rationalise a lot of conflicting and mutually contradicting thoughts and opinions.
More on that in a later post maybe. Read more!
Can religious faith and scientific curiosity coexist in the same human mind?
Read on for my unique theory! :-)
I recently finished reading Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion". It's a heavy read, not because of the size of the book, but more so because of the gravity of the ideas he keeps springing up. They take some time to assimilate. The book is mainly aimed at proponents of monotheistic religions, especially the religious right in US. I realised by reading this book and by discussing it some western friends that even in this day & age, the hardliners in the US deny the Darwin Theory and in fact are virulently against teaching the Evolution theory to their children in schools. There are regular protests and banning of Darwin's opus "On the Origin of Species". I think it's still banned in the US.
The main thing is that following one school of thought apparently precludes believing in the other. It's as if the other camp is the enemy, never to be understood.
Dawkins however doesn't specifically mention Hinduism or Buddhism as being against the evolution theory. And that got me thinking. I haven't heard of any Hindu religious sentiments being specifically focused against scientific thought etc. We are much more preoccupied with the depiction (or rather non-depiction!) of nudity in modern art, you see! Think M F Husain, think the young student, Chandra Mohan, in the prestigious Arts College who has been jailed for 5 days without trial in Baroda, Gujarat. But I digress.
So how are we Indians able to simultaneously believe in our ancient gods and goddesses, as well as believe in modern scientific thought?
The answer came to me when I was watching "The Jungle Book" last week. It is of course a thoroughly enjoyable tale, and children of all ages love it. Especially Baloo the bear, Bagheera the panther and of course King Louis, the monkey king!
However, if kids come across these animals in real life, they are not really likely to run over and hug them, are they? The line between fantasy (or rather, a willing suspension of disbelief) while watching movies and between the actual hard reality of the world is very clearly understood by even little children.
What sets us Indians apart from the rest of the world in this matter is Bollywood! Anyone brought up on a steady diet of fantastic movies about superheroes bashing up 20 baddies, heroines with the with the body of a sexbomb and still retaining a virginal aura (Mumtaz comes to mind here), villains with a heart of coal and a laugh to match, will know what I'm talking about.
But when we come out of the movie hall, we switch off the gullibility switch in our brain, and when we see a girl being accosted by 10 baddies in a dark lane, we do what any sensible right thinking person would do; we run the other way! :-)
So my theory is that the reason we Indians are more prepared than most to deal with ambiguities and paradoxes in real life is because we have been trained from the very childhood to believe in and rationalise a lot of conflicting and mutually contradicting thoughts and opinions.
More on that in a later post maybe. Read more!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Guys' day out
Last week I happened to have lunch at the Iranian Club with a couple of friends and friends' friends. I was invited there by a colleague, and when I asked him who else would be there, he was rather vague about it, saying that he would bring along a couple of his friends.
Well, when I arrived at the club, I saw a huge buffet, with tables literally groaning (in Farsi, of course) with food. The starters table alone was enough to make up for the price of the entry. Unfortunately, since all the labels were in Farsi, I could make neither head nor tail of what the names of the dishes were. But not to worry, their food is somewhat like Indian food. Actually Indian, especially North Indian frontier cuisine, owes a lot to Irani and Turkish food, no doubt because all the marauders in ancient times who would have designs on India would be homesick and would make sure they got their supply of their home cooked food. Their recipes would then have percolated down to the locals, ie our ancestors.
Both our cuisines use a lot of yoghurt, mint raitas, mashed aubergines, different kinds of fragrant rices and kebabs.
But more than all the food, what I enjoyed was the wacky conversation at our table. My friend arrived with his brother and another friend in tow. This friend-of-my-friend, Max was a really funny guy. He kept us in splits throughout with weird imitations and crazy jokes. Some highlights:
- I learnt that every boyband has a member who's designated the "confirmer". He's the guy who is told, "Okay, you there! You do nothing, but repeat the last phrase of the previous guy... only in a lower tone!" So when the boy band is mouthing their inane lyrics, something like "Baby I would never lie to you!", the "confirmer" goes,"...lie to youuuuuuu...". You get the picture.
- The eccentric uncle who would always spell out the wrong word in front of kids. "Hey guys, let's go out to the C-A-R......and smoke some pot!"
Max was elaborating on how it is better to be a small fry in the world of movies than be a big star with all the trappings that come along with it. He asked us whether we remembered a rather tough-looking pockmarked huge Mexican guy with a drooping moustache who appeared in lots of movies but always in bit roles. We all nodded. Then he asked whether any of us knew his name. I think he meant it as a purely rhetorical question, and therefore didn't expect Mr. Know-it-all (aka me!) to blurt out, "Yes, I know! Danny Trejo!".
There was dead silence around the table, as you can guess. :-) As Max put it, there were probably 6 people in the world who could offhand name this guy based on a verbal description, not counting the guy's parents. Ah well. I felt slightly embarrassed at having topped Max's tale with a bit of the old show-off. Anyways.
We parted company 90 minutes later, with full stomachs and light hearts. Did I mention the dessert, which was traditional Irani Falooda? It's quite unlike the India version. This one is thin stiff vermicelli in lots of ice and with rosewater and lemon juice liberally sprinkled on top.
I realised later how much fun I had had, just shooting the bull with these strangers. I think guys too need such outings on a regular basis to unwind and relax, just talking about inane stuff. Oprah would concur. Read more!
Well, when I arrived at the club, I saw a huge buffet, with tables literally groaning (in Farsi, of course) with food. The starters table alone was enough to make up for the price of the entry. Unfortunately, since all the labels were in Farsi, I could make neither head nor tail of what the names of the dishes were. But not to worry, their food is somewhat like Indian food. Actually Indian, especially North Indian frontier cuisine, owes a lot to Irani and Turkish food, no doubt because all the marauders in ancient times who would have designs on India would be homesick and would make sure they got their supply of their home cooked food. Their recipes would then have percolated down to the locals, ie our ancestors.
Both our cuisines use a lot of yoghurt, mint raitas, mashed aubergines, different kinds of fragrant rices and kebabs.
But more than all the food, what I enjoyed was the wacky conversation at our table. My friend arrived with his brother and another friend in tow. This friend-of-my-friend, Max was a really funny guy. He kept us in splits throughout with weird imitations and crazy jokes. Some highlights:
- I learnt that every boyband has a member who's designated the "confirmer". He's the guy who is told, "Okay, you there! You do nothing, but repeat the last phrase of the previous guy... only in a lower tone!" So when the boy band is mouthing their inane lyrics, something like "Baby I would never lie to you!", the "confirmer" goes,"...lie to youuuuuuu...". You get the picture.
- The eccentric uncle who would always spell out the wrong word in front of kids. "Hey guys, let's go out to the C-A-R......and smoke some pot!"
Max was elaborating on how it is better to be a small fry in the world of movies than be a big star with all the trappings that come along with it. He asked us whether we remembered a rather tough-looking pockmarked huge Mexican guy with a drooping moustache who appeared in lots of movies but always in bit roles. We all nodded. Then he asked whether any of us knew his name. I think he meant it as a purely rhetorical question, and therefore didn't expect Mr. Know-it-all (aka me!) to blurt out, "Yes, I know! Danny Trejo!".
There was dead silence around the table, as you can guess. :-) As Max put it, there were probably 6 people in the world who could offhand name this guy based on a verbal description, not counting the guy's parents. Ah well. I felt slightly embarrassed at having topped Max's tale with a bit of the old show-off. Anyways.
We parted company 90 minutes later, with full stomachs and light hearts. Did I mention the dessert, which was traditional Irani Falooda? It's quite unlike the India version. This one is thin stiff vermicelli in lots of ice and with rosewater and lemon juice liberally sprinkled on top.
I realised later how much fun I had had, just shooting the bull with these strangers. I think guys too need such outings on a regular basis to unwind and relax, just talking about inane stuff. Oprah would concur. Read more!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
DON"T ask for more
"To have little is to possess. To have plenty is to be perplexed."
-Lao Tse
Okay, you are an exception, Oliver Twist!
In a short story "How Much Land Does a Man Need?", Tolstoy writes about Pahom, a greedy Russian who hears that the Bashkirs, a minority race in Russia, are giving away their land for almost nothing. He goes to them and they offer him as much land as he wants, provided he can walk its perimeter in one day. Pahom agrees and goes out on his walk, but when the sun starts going down, he finds he has walked a little too far. Running back, Pahom collapses at the point where he had started just as the sun disappears behind the horizon. The Bashkirs try to congratulate him, only to find him dead. In answer to the question posed in the story's title, the Bashkirs bury him in a hole six feet long by two feet wide.
I am thinking about the above since yesterday when I read about the Hindu "godmen" who have been caught in a sting operation, offering to convert black money to white through shady transactions involving their charitable trusts. And I ask myself, what do these old men with long white beards and ash-smeared foreheads want in life, or rather want from life? Especially at this age! I mean, what difference would it make to them individually how many more crores they would make through these rackets? Yes, the amounts being talked about were 10%-25% of upto Rs. 5 crore!
http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=81ec3d61-8f10-4887-b316-c13d3cfc9fdb&&Headline=Sting+exposes+Godmen%2c+VHP+calls+it+campaign
Isn't there a big difference between what you want and what you need? Has this been forgotten conveniently by everyone except maverick musicians and bemused bloggers?
"I do not want what I do not have" - Sinead O'Connor Read more!
-Lao Tse
Okay, you are an exception, Oliver Twist!
In a short story "How Much Land Does a Man Need?", Tolstoy writes about Pahom, a greedy Russian who hears that the Bashkirs, a minority race in Russia, are giving away their land for almost nothing. He goes to them and they offer him as much land as he wants, provided he can walk its perimeter in one day. Pahom agrees and goes out on his walk, but when the sun starts going down, he finds he has walked a little too far. Running back, Pahom collapses at the point where he had started just as the sun disappears behind the horizon. The Bashkirs try to congratulate him, only to find him dead. In answer to the question posed in the story's title, the Bashkirs bury him in a hole six feet long by two feet wide.
I am thinking about the above since yesterday when I read about the Hindu "godmen" who have been caught in a sting operation, offering to convert black money to white through shady transactions involving their charitable trusts. And I ask myself, what do these old men with long white beards and ash-smeared foreheads want in life, or rather want from life? Especially at this age! I mean, what difference would it make to them individually how many more crores they would make through these rackets? Yes, the amounts being talked about were 10%-25% of upto Rs. 5 crore!
http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=81ec3d61-8f10-4887-b316-c13d3cfc9fdb&&Headline=Sting+exposes+Godmen%2c+VHP+calls+it+campaign
Isn't there a big difference between what you want and what you need? Has this been forgotten conveniently by everyone except maverick musicians and bemused bloggers?
"I do not want what I do not have" - Sinead O'Connor Read more!
Sunday, May 06, 2007
After the Kiss
My previous post had the story/pix of 3 kisses. But what happened afterwards?
Kiss no 1
Kiss no 1
Nilofer Bakhtiar has either quit her post of Tourism Minister or been told to resign, depending on whose version you want to believe.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/03/stories/2007050303701400.htm
Kiss no 2
An Indian local court in Jaipur has issued arrest warrants for both the kisser and the kissee in this well-publicised case.
Kiss no 3
अब तेरा क्या होगा, कालिया ?
Sorry, I meant Ahmadinejad! But hey, I forget the fact that he's a man, and the world we are living in! :-)
So the proper question to ask should be what happens to his 70 year old female 1st grade teacher, who must have "forcibly" given him a kiss and an embrace!
:-)
Let's wait and see.
Incidentally, I am very impressed by this article I read about the blogging community among the Iranian clerics. They seem to be much more progressive and willing to embrace change in this everchanging world.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/05/03/10122643.html
Thursday, May 03, 2007
XOXOXOXOXO
This is the saga of 3 recent controversies, all involving alleged "indecent kissing/hugging" in public.
No. 1
A group of radical clerics issued a religious decree against Pakistan's tourism minister, Nilofer Bakhtiar, after some local newspapers printed photographs showing her holding onto a man after landing from a parachute jump in France.
Read more!
No. 1
A group of radical clerics issued a religious decree against Pakistan's tourism minister, Nilofer Bakhtiar, after some local newspapers printed photographs showing her holding onto a man after landing from a parachute jump in France.
No. 2
This one is too famous anyway, without me having to add anything.
No. 3
Now this is really something. During a meeting of Iranian teachers with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mrs. Najmeh Gholi Pour, Ahmadinejad's first grade teacher, appeared and a moved Ahmadinejad kissed her hand. This was enough to set off a controversy about indecency in the press. Indecently..... errrr, sorry...... Incidentally, the lady is over 70 years old.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Fond Mothers & the "Others"
Today's paper reports a Qatari man is to be executed for raping his daughter. Heinous crime, no doubt, and what's also disturbing is this statement from the judge:
"Cases of rape......are becoming more frequent. I believe this is due to the fact that the traditional society is suffering from a cultural shock, mainly due to the growing presence of immigrants. Values and habits are rapidly changing and violence in [sic] increasing."
So blame even this on them, eh? :-) The "furriners".
अपने गिरेबान में भी झाँक कर पहले देखो एक बार ....
Reminds me of that fond mother who while watching her soldier son on parade said," Look! The entire platoon is marching out of step! Only my son is marching correctly!"
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Qatar/10122228.html Read more!
"Cases of rape......are becoming more frequent. I believe this is due to the fact that the traditional society is suffering from a cultural shock, mainly due to the growing presence of immigrants. Values and habits are rapidly changing and violence in [sic] increasing."
So blame even this on them, eh? :-) The "furriners".
अपने गिरेबान में भी झाँक कर पहले देखो एक बार ....
Reminds me of that fond mother who while watching her soldier son on parade said," Look! The entire platoon is marching out of step! Only my son is marching correctly!"
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Qatar/10122228.html Read more!
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Sudden Death
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/auckland/4043617a6468.html
Jailed China judge dies of 'adult sudden death syndrome'
Reuters Tuesday, 1 May 2007
BEIJING: A Chinese judge charged with corruption died in his cell from "adult sudden death syndrome", Xinhua news agency said on Monday. Investigators said Li Chaoyang, 38, had been uncooperative while in detention .... "Cuts on his face and other injuries" had been caused by a fall during an escape attempt, they said.
I love the jargon these officials come up with! :-) Although to be fair, there is supposed to be a Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS for the acronymically minded), as corresponding to SIDS (Figure that one out yourselves!). But an uncooperative judge showing signs of injury in jail dying of ASDS (per the Chinese news agency) is a bit much!
And how are you judged to be uncooperative? That too, in a Chinese jail?
In another (slightly related) news, Chinese authorities are asking public officials to pay less attention to their mistresses and more to their own parents.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1728755.ece
Apparently they have found a direct correlation between the quantity (and quality) of mistresses kept by public officials and their proclivity for corruption! Hmmm, that's rather surprising, no? ;-)
Paul Wolfowitz must be thanking his stars he's not Chinese! Read more!
Jailed China judge dies of 'adult sudden death syndrome'
Reuters Tuesday, 1 May 2007
BEIJING: A Chinese judge charged with corruption died in his cell from "adult sudden death syndrome", Xinhua news agency said on Monday. Investigators said Li Chaoyang, 38, had been uncooperative while in detention .... "Cuts on his face and other injuries" had been caused by a fall during an escape attempt, they said.
I love the jargon these officials come up with! :-) Although to be fair, there is supposed to be a Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS for the acronymically minded), as corresponding to SIDS (Figure that one out yourselves!). But an uncooperative judge showing signs of injury in jail dying of ASDS (per the Chinese news agency) is a bit much!
And how are you judged to be uncooperative? That too, in a Chinese jail?
In another (slightly related) news, Chinese authorities are asking public officials to pay less attention to their mistresses and more to their own parents.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1728755.ece
Apparently they have found a direct correlation between the quantity (and quality) of mistresses kept by public officials and their proclivity for corruption! Hmmm, that's rather surprising, no? ;-)
Paul Wolfowitz must be thanking his stars he's not Chinese! Read more!
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Men who love & respect women
Exhibit 1: Silvio Berlusconi, former Italian PM
He complimented Mara Carfagna, a former TV “showgirl” & a deputy for his Forza Italia party, saying: “Just look at her — if I was not married I would marry her at once.” When Aida Yespica, a voluptuous television presenter, leant across and told him she would “love to go to a desert island with you” he replied: “I would go with you anywhere.”
His fed-up wife Veronica then came up with a public demand for apology on the front page of a newspaper: “I .. ask my husband ... for a public apology since I have not received a private one, and ... I ... consider myself to be ‘half of nothing’”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2577544,00.html
Exhibit 2: Hakuo Yanagisawa, Japan's health minister
"Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can do is ask them to do their best per head .." (He's referring to women, the chivalrous chappie!)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,,2001056,00.html
Exhibit 3: Prez/General Parvez Musharraf of Pakistan
He offers this pearl of wisdom to Washington Post.
Rape has become a "moneymaking concern" in Pakistan and that many Pakistanis felt it was an easy way to make money and get a Canadian visa.
Of course he immediately denies this the next day! But clever WP posts the audio interview on their site.
Interview:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/18/AR2005091800554.html
Audio Excerpt of Prez Musharraf's comment:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/audio/2005/09/23/AU2005092301278.html Read more!
He complimented Mara Carfagna, a former TV “showgirl” & a deputy for his Forza Italia party, saying: “Just look at her — if I was not married I would marry her at once.” When Aida Yespica, a voluptuous television presenter, leant across and told him she would “love to go to a desert island with you” he replied: “I would go with you anywhere.”
His fed-up wife Veronica then came up with a public demand for apology on the front page of a newspaper: “I .. ask my husband ... for a public apology since I have not received a private one, and ... I ... consider myself to be ‘half of nothing’”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2577544,00.html
Exhibit 2: Hakuo Yanagisawa, Japan's health minister
"Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can do is ask them to do their best per head .." (He's referring to women, the chivalrous chappie!)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,,2001056,00.html
Exhibit 3: Prez/General Parvez Musharraf of Pakistan
He offers this pearl of wisdom to Washington Post.
Rape has become a "moneymaking concern" in Pakistan and that many Pakistanis felt it was an easy way to make money and get a Canadian visa.
Of course he immediately denies this the next day! But clever WP posts the audio interview on their site.
Interview:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/18/AR2005091800554.html
Audio Excerpt of Prez Musharraf's comment:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/audio/2005/09/23/AU2005092301278.html Read more!
Friday, February 02, 2007
Raindrops
कालिदास is describing पार्वती who's meditating hard to win Lord Shiva, in this श्लोक:
"StithaaH xa.Nam paxmasu taaDita-adharaaH payodhara-utsedhanipaata-chur.Nitaavaleeshu tasyaaH skhalitaaH prapedire chire.N naabhim prathama-oda-bindavaH"
The above shloka rearranged as prose:
"Prathama-oda-bindavaH tasyaaH paxmasu xa.Nam stithaaH taaDita-adharaaHpayodhara-utsedhanipaata-chur.Nitaa valeeshu skhalitaaH chire.N naabhim prapedire"
Literal word-by-word meaning:
prathama-oda-bindavaH = first water drop
tasyaaH = her
paxmasu = on eyelids
xa.Nam = momentarily
stithaaH = stayed
taaDita-adharaaH = fell on the lips
payodhara-utsedhanipaata-chur.Nitaa = shattered on hard breasts
valeeshu = in the tri-valley (triple fold on the belly, a mark of beauty)
skhalitaaH = slid
chire.N = in a long time
naabhim = in the navel
prapedire = disappeared
Translation:
The first drop of rain stayed momentarily on her eyelids, slid down to her lips, shattered on her hard breasts and trickled across her triple fold, and after an eternity disappeared in her navel.
The use of time is lyrical and almost hypnosing!
Acknowledgement to Shashikant Joshi for the literal translation, at this site:
http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/kalidas.html Read more!
"StithaaH xa.Nam paxmasu taaDita-adharaaH payodhara-utsedhanipaata-chur.Nitaavaleeshu tasyaaH skhalitaaH prapedire chire.N naabhim prathama-oda-bindavaH"
The above shloka rearranged as prose:
"Prathama-oda-bindavaH tasyaaH paxmasu xa.Nam stithaaH taaDita-adharaaHpayodhara-utsedhanipaata-chur.Nitaa valeeshu skhalitaaH chire.N naabhim prapedire"
Literal word-by-word meaning:
prathama-oda-bindavaH = first water drop
tasyaaH = her
paxmasu = on eyelids
xa.Nam = momentarily
stithaaH = stayed
taaDita-adharaaH = fell on the lips
payodhara-utsedhanipaata-chur.Nitaa = shattered on hard breasts
valeeshu = in the tri-valley (triple fold on the belly, a mark of beauty)
skhalitaaH = slid
chire.N = in a long time
naabhim = in the navel
prapedire = disappeared
Translation:
The first drop of rain stayed momentarily on her eyelids, slid down to her lips, shattered on her hard breasts and trickled across her triple fold, and after an eternity disappeared in her navel.
The use of time is lyrical and almost hypnosing!
Acknowledgement to Shashikant Joshi for the literal translation, at this site:
http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/kalidas.html Read more!
The line
The wise man took a piece of wood in his hand and drew a straight line on the ground. He then asked the gathering,"Can you make this line shorter without touching it?"
Read more!
Best Will
In an earlier post, I had made an effort to "bury George Best, not to praise him", to paraphrase old Will.
Speaking of which, George Best's will has been released, in which he leaves just one watch to his son Calum, everything else to his sister Barbara, and nothing at all for his 2 ex-wives or his other 3 siblings.
We are told that this is "a commemorative designer watch from the 1994 World Cup".
So why did this one particular sister get favoured over the others? Well, as her lawyer tell us, "Barbara McNarry was named as the key beneficiary in part because she oversees a memorial fund in Best's honor and was most involved in promoting his legacy."
To end with another of the Bard's quotes: "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." Read more!
Speaking of which, George Best's will has been released, in which he leaves just one watch to his son Calum, everything else to his sister Barbara, and nothing at all for his 2 ex-wives or his other 3 siblings.
We are told that this is "a commemorative designer watch from the 1994 World Cup".
So why did this one particular sister get favoured over the others? Well, as her lawyer tell us, "Barbara McNarry was named as the key beneficiary in part because she oversees a memorial fund in Best's honor and was most involved in promoting his legacy."
To end with another of the Bard's quotes: "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." Read more!
Baby shortage in China
China? Short of babies?
I read this article today by a lady called Beth Nonte Russell which amused me. Apparently China has put in force new strict foreigner adoption laws (probably fearing the Jolie invasion into China!) because they claim they lack "available" babies to meet the "spike" in demand.
So what are the new criteria for hopeful foreign parents who want a nice little chinky-eyed baby? Well, you have to be married for one (no single parents/divorcees please!), be married for at least 5 years in fact, neither of the prospective parents should be over the age of 50, should have a minimum net worth (read bank balance!) of US$ 80,000, AND should have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of not more than 40!
China is really selective, isn't it? They want nothing but the very best of healthy wealthy happily married foster parents for their orphaned babies! :-) Read more!
I read this article today by a lady called Beth Nonte Russell which amused me. Apparently China has put in force new strict foreigner adoption laws (probably fearing the Jolie invasion into China!) because they claim they lack "available" babies to meet the "spike" in demand.
So what are the new criteria for hopeful foreign parents who want a nice little chinky-eyed baby? Well, you have to be married for one (no single parents/divorcees please!), be married for at least 5 years in fact, neither of the prospective parents should be over the age of 50, should have a minimum net worth (read bank balance!) of US$ 80,000, AND should have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of not more than 40!
China is really selective, isn't it? They want nothing but the very best of healthy wealthy happily married foster parents for their orphaned babies! :-) Read more!
Friday, January 26, 2007
Today's fun stuff
"You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there." - George Burns
"At 50, a person is really very young, but he will not find it until later." - Mark Twain (Mark Twain: The Complete Interviews)
The Oscar statue is made of gold-plated Britannium, an alloy which is 93% tin. No wonder it's called tinsel town! Read more!
"At 50, a person is really very young, but he will not find it until later." - Mark Twain (Mark Twain: The Complete Interviews)
The Oscar statue is made of gold-plated Britannium, an alloy which is 93% tin. No wonder it's called tinsel town! Read more!
What's it all about then?
This morning, I'm rustling through last week's newspapers to cut out any interesting articles (does anyone else do that anymore?) and I come across a movie schedule featuring "Alfie". To refresh your memory, it's about a wastrel womaniser Alfie, played by Michael Caine.
And then when I turn the newspaper page, there's this Garfield strip:
Coincidence? :-) Read more!
Final words of "Alfie": You know what? When I look back on my little life and the birds I've known, and think of all the things they've done for me and the little I've done for them, you'd think I've had the best of it along the line. But what have I got out of it? I've got a bob or two, some decent clothes, a car, I've got me health back and I ain't attached. But I ain't got me peace of mind - and if you ain't got that, you ain't got nothing. I dunno. It seems to me if they ain't got you one way they've got you another. So what's the answer? That's what I keep asking myself - what's it all about? Know what I mean?
Profound words, right?
And then when I turn the newspaper page, there's this Garfield strip:
Coincidence? :-) Read more!
Friday, December 16, 2005
3 men; 3 stories
STORY 1
http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/13ravi.htm
Hard to say no to free love: Ravi Shankar
May 13, 2003 18:52 IST
Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar has said that he found hard to say no to free love.
"Whatever happened, it was spontaneous. The spontaneity was always there; it gave me and others a lot of happiness for some time, but it brought sorrow also," Ravi Shankar said commenting on his love life in The Times daily on Tuesday.
Asked whether it caused him grief to look back on his love life, the 82-year-old said, "It is a mixed feeling, you know. I am grateful for everything that I got, but I had to pay for it with pain and torture."
Asked about his lady friends, he said, "Many are dead and gone. A couple of them I still meet and try and be friendly with. With some, of course, things are not good."
Shankar married Annapurna Devi, the daughter of his guru Ustad Allauddin Khan, when he was 21, but they were ill matched and broke up after a few years. Annapurna granted him divorce decades later. They had two children.
The ensuing years were wild. In his autobiography, Raga Mala, he said:"I felt I could be in love with different women in different places. It was like having a girl in every port - and sometimes there was more than one!"
From the late 1940s, however, his main companion was a dancer, Kamala Shastri, and from 1967 until 1981 they lived together 'as man and wife'.
In 1972, he met the 18-year-old Sukanya Rajan, who played the tanpura at his concerts.
In 1978, although she, too, was married, they became lovers. In 1981 Anoushka was born.
Meanwhile, in America, Ravi Shankar was having an affair with the NewYork concert producer Sue Jones, who gave birth to Norah (or Geetali,as she was originally known) in 1979.
For the first two years of her life, he divided his affections between them and Kamala until Kamala, after three decades, finally quit him.
The next year his divorce from his wife came through.
At first he chose to be with Sue. But in 1986 their relationship ended, although he remained close to Norah. In 1989, after much prevarication, he decided to marry Sukanya, at which point Sue banned him from seeing Norah.
On what really made someone who seems so calm and has brought so much serenity into other people's lives have such a turbulent private life, he said "I am amazed myself."
STORY 2a
Soccer's first superstar George Best dies
George Best, widely regarded as the only British footballer in the same league as Pele, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff, died on Friday.He was 59.
"My father has passed away," Best's tearful son Calum told reporters on the hospital steps. "Not only have I lost my dad but we've all lost a wonderful man."
Prime Minister Tony Blair, attending a summit in Malta, described Best as "probably the most naturally gifted footballer of his generation and one of the best footballers our country has produced."
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern paid tribute, describing him as a football genius who was one of his great sporting heroes.
Soccer authorities said a minute's silence would be observed at many league matches this weekend as a mark of respect.
"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars," Best said in his most memorable comment on his roller-coasterlife. "The rest I just squandered."
Best always maintained he had achieved all he wanted.
STORY 2b
Glory before the final whistle
By Tom Clifford, Assistant Editor, International 11/25/2005 12:00 AM
Where did it all go wrong? He used to quip that's what room-service waiters would ask when they saw him with the latest Miss World. But something had gone wrong. A career cut short by wayward living, shattered relationships, violence against women and jail time.
In some ways, Best cheated death, delayed the inevitable. He was in such a sorry state twenty years ago, that people then were saying he only had a few years to live.
He was an icon of an age, the Sixties, that was full of them the dead Kennedys, Jagger, Twiggy, John, Paul, George and Ringo. The 'fifth Beatle' came to prominence at the dawn of the jet age and satellite TV. He was possibly the first real soccer superstar. Just as Northern Ireland was bubbling with political unrest there was an Irish genius dominating the playing fields of England. And all the time the sense of a fleeting moment.
This was an age not just of heroes but of dead heroes. He indulged a lifestyle that did not take tomorrow into account.
We loved him for it. Live life like the young and the reckless. To hell with Bobby or Jack Charlton telling you to calm down, to hell with players of little talent telling you to spare yourself so that you could burn longer but dimmer. Fast cars, fast women and night was for clubbing not sleeping. George Best doing something in moderation? A contradiction.
One humid London night in May 1968 Best produced not a performance but an extravaganza that helped Manchester United capture their holygrail, the European Cup. Best scored a superb goal and he later claimed that after rounding the Benfica goalkeeper and seeing the empty net, he decided to stop the ball on the goalline, lie down and head it in. But changed his mind when he realised that a trick like that would be just too outrageous. What other player would even consider such a ploy.
Yes, he was a genius, like Oscar Wilde another condemned Irishman from another era. They could both make the ordinary, prose or a ball, seem extraordinary. We knew it was a privilege to see him play, red shirt out, ball at his feet. He gave us so much pleasure but denied himself.
United and Best. As they said of another icon, let it not be forgot that for one brief, shining, moment there was Camelot.
STORY 2c
The worst side of Best
By Alexander Lindsay 12/09/2005 12:00 AM
No one likes to speak ill of the dead, but I am going to stick my neckout and take a clinical look at the recent mass mourning fest surrounding the death of a wife beater, serial adulterer, irresponsible drunk and inveterate gambler.
Oh yes, nearly forgot he was a genius footballer too.
If I may borrow from Mark Anthony's irony-laced eulogy to Julius Caesar: I come to bury George Best, not to praise him.
I bear no personal ill will against George Best for the way he conducted his life. But the sight of half a million tearful people lining the streets in a display of emotion worthy of Mother Teresa, cannot help but say something about the wayward values that have taken over Western society, led by the god of celebrity. Celebrity forgives everything, no matter how heinous.
Misty-eyed tributes came from public figures, including British PrimeMinister Tony Blair. Flags flew at half-mast on public buildings, as if some head of state had passed away. The rhetoric matched the occasion. He was described as a "perfect" human being. A man "without whom the world will be a sadder place".
Soccer might well be sadder. But the world? Debatable.
His faults were airbrushed out of existence, his life sanitised to the point of beatitude.
Let us take a brief look at George Best's scorecard off the field.
He drank to ridiculous excess and got violent with those around him.He drank to the extent that his liver packed in. He was given a transplant a precious gift from a donor who selflessly let his organ be used so that another might live.
And what does he do? He resumes his binge drinking and wrecks that liver too. A liver that might have saved another patient on a long waiting list.
According to one account, when tackled about it he cynically retorted that the new liver he was abusing had been donated "without strings attached" as to the behaviour of the recipient.
He once hacked off his second wife's hair and drew all over her body with a marker pen. On her 25th birthday he kicked and punched her after a drunken row.
There are those who argue that Best was a victim of his own celebrity. Not so.
For we already know that the god of celebrity is a forgiving god. Many achieve celebrity or have celebrity thrust upon them, yet manage to handle it.
It was Best's own self-indulgence and callous disregard for others that tainted his celebrity. He was whitewashed and the crowds turned out in their hundreds of thousands in a feeding frenzy of emotion.
And what kind of emotion? Were they grieving for George Best the man?Certainly not, for only his family and friends have a mandate to grieve for the man. The rest is artificial. Half a million people wearing their hearts on their sleeves in the name of celebrity.
George Best is acknowledged by most as the greatest footballer ever. And no one, least of all I, would want to tarnish that reputation. But in the end, as one observer cynically put it: George Best's final score: Celebrity 1, Responsibility 0.
STORY 3
John Lennon's first wife out to set the record straight
Tod Robberson The Dallas Morning News Dec. 1, 2005 6:00 PM
LONDON - She had a ticket to ride with one of the greatest rock bands of all time. But if Cynthia Lennon had known the emotional pain that would accompany her decade-long journey with John, Paul, George and Ringo, she says she would have walked away in a heartbeat.
In an interview nearly 25 years after the death of Beatles founder John Lennon, Cynthia Lennon recalled her former husband as both a genius and hugely flawed man whose insecurities drove him to commitacts of cowardice, cruelty and betrayal against the people closest to him.
He was mean, she suggested. He beat her and kept her apart from the things she loved - most notably, him.
She said he abandoned their son, Julian, for years, and his behavior became more irrational and withdrawn as he experimented with drugs such as LSD and heroin in the late 1960s. Much of her private experience differed sharply from the image Lennon enjoyed publicly as a campaigner for love and world peace.
"I always believed that idols have feet of clay," Cynthia Lennon, 66,said. "I thought it was important for the fans and the people who really believed in John ... (to remember that) he was human. He was no saint, and he was no sinner. But he had a special talent that touched everybody's hearts."
Cynthia Lennon published a best-selling book, "John," in October to commemorate his life but also, as she said, to "balance the scales"between the myth and reality.
The first half of the book focuses on the couple's romance in art school during the late 1950s, Lennon's early musical career and thes kyrocketing fame of the Beatles from the early 1960s onward. Thesecond half chronicles the Beatles' experimentation with drugs and transcendental meditation, Lennon's growing distance from his wife and colleagues and, subsequently, the couple's divorce that followed his extramarital affair with Ono in 1968.
"It wasn't a derogatory story. It was a true story. I think my intention in writing the book was to enlighten people who loved John and his memory about certain facts that I lived through - we lived through - and just to fill in a few spaces, really," she explained.
Although Lennon and Ono attracted enormous publicity with various stunts, such as their repeated "bed-ins" for peace, Cynthia Lennon said it is important to understand a fuller picture of his life.
"I knew John from the age of 18, and it was part and parcel of my life to live with this man and to see who he was, his talents and his weaknesses," she said.
She attributes his bitterness later in life to lingering feelings of loss after the death of his mother, Julia, in 1959; the domineering influence of his aunt and surrogate parent, Mimi Smith; and his upbringing without a father, who left the family after forcing John,at age 5, to choose between him and his mother.
Her book gives detailed accounts of Lennon's intense jealousy and fear in adulthood of being abandoned. He physically attacked Cynthia in 1959 after he learned that she had danced with his best friend, Stuart Sutcliffe, at a party. Conversely, she includes the text of various letters he wrote to her throughout their marriage vowing his eternal love and devotion.
Drugs and, subsequently, Ono's controlling influence turned Lennon into an unsmiling and seemingly unhappy man from the late 1960s onward, when he outwardly preached messages of inner tranquility and world togetherness, his first wife said.
Cynthia Lennon said she had received no warning in 1968 that her marriage to Lennon was over. She arrived home one day to find him sitting on the floor of the couple's bedroom next to Ono, who was wearing Cynthia's bathrobe.
Rather than talk to her directly, he announced his divorce plans to her through the British news media, she said.
Julian Lennon, their son, was subjected to repeated violent outbursts and mocking criticism by his father. John Lennon once so severely criticized the boy's manner of laughing that, to this day, Julian rarely laughs, Cynthia Lennon said.
"I think John lost an awful lot of his humor and his wit, which were part and parcel of his creativity," she said. "I felt he was fighting many, many battles. And I think he had a lot of guilt for what had happened. But John was never one to admit to anything. He would battle on and fight. I think a lot of aggression came out in his music,especially in the latter years."
In the foreword to her book, Julian Lennon, 40, described John Lennon as "the father I loved and who let me down in so many ways. ... (He) was a remarkable man who stood for peace and love in the world. But at the same time, he found it very hard to show any peace and love to his first family - my mother and me."
Ono has not responded to the numerous allegations and criticisms leveled at her in the book.
Asked whether she feared the possibility that Ono could use her wealth to bankrupt Cynthia Lennon in litigation, the author said, "I've never been afraid of Yoko. Never, ever. ... Everything I've written in thebook is absolutely true, so I don't feel particularly afraid of being sued or anything else. I've got the evidence. I have letters, I have all the things necessary."
She said she had no intention of engaging in a war of words with Ono,who is routinely described by music critics and Beatles biographers as a principal factor in the group's breakup. But she suggested that Ono's failure to make peace with her critics is something "she should think about."
Although Cynthia Lennon used words such as "cowardly," "cruel" and"brutal," to describe her former husband, her overall impression of him remains a positive one.
"He was hysterical, he was historical. He was fun. He was so multitalented. When he was good, he was really, really good," shesaid. "And when he was bad, he was horrid." Read more!
http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/13ravi.htm
Hard to say no to free love: Ravi Shankar
May 13, 2003 18:52 IST
Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar has said that he found hard to say no to free love.
"Whatever happened, it was spontaneous. The spontaneity was always there; it gave me and others a lot of happiness for some time, but it brought sorrow also," Ravi Shankar said commenting on his love life in The Times daily on Tuesday.
Asked whether it caused him grief to look back on his love life, the 82-year-old said, "It is a mixed feeling, you know. I am grateful for everything that I got, but I had to pay for it with pain and torture."
Asked about his lady friends, he said, "Many are dead and gone. A couple of them I still meet and try and be friendly with. With some, of course, things are not good."
Shankar married Annapurna Devi, the daughter of his guru Ustad Allauddin Khan, when he was 21, but they were ill matched and broke up after a few years. Annapurna granted him divorce decades later. They had two children.
The ensuing years were wild. In his autobiography, Raga Mala, he said:"I felt I could be in love with different women in different places. It was like having a girl in every port - and sometimes there was more than one!"
From the late 1940s, however, his main companion was a dancer, Kamala Shastri, and from 1967 until 1981 they lived together 'as man and wife'.
In 1972, he met the 18-year-old Sukanya Rajan, who played the tanpura at his concerts.
In 1978, although she, too, was married, they became lovers. In 1981 Anoushka was born.
Meanwhile, in America, Ravi Shankar was having an affair with the NewYork concert producer Sue Jones, who gave birth to Norah (or Geetali,as she was originally known) in 1979.
For the first two years of her life, he divided his affections between them and Kamala until Kamala, after three decades, finally quit him.
The next year his divorce from his wife came through.
At first he chose to be with Sue. But in 1986 their relationship ended, although he remained close to Norah. In 1989, after much prevarication, he decided to marry Sukanya, at which point Sue banned him from seeing Norah.
On what really made someone who seems so calm and has brought so much serenity into other people's lives have such a turbulent private life, he said "I am amazed myself."
STORY 2a
Soccer's first superstar George Best dies
George Best, widely regarded as the only British footballer in the same league as Pele, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff, died on Friday.He was 59.
"My father has passed away," Best's tearful son Calum told reporters on the hospital steps. "Not only have I lost my dad but we've all lost a wonderful man."
Prime Minister Tony Blair, attending a summit in Malta, described Best as "probably the most naturally gifted footballer of his generation and one of the best footballers our country has produced."
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern paid tribute, describing him as a football genius who was one of his great sporting heroes.
Soccer authorities said a minute's silence would be observed at many league matches this weekend as a mark of respect.
"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars," Best said in his most memorable comment on his roller-coasterlife. "The rest I just squandered."
Best always maintained he had achieved all he wanted.
STORY 2b
Glory before the final whistle
By Tom Clifford, Assistant Editor, International 11/25/2005 12:00 AM
Where did it all go wrong? He used to quip that's what room-service waiters would ask when they saw him with the latest Miss World. But something had gone wrong. A career cut short by wayward living, shattered relationships, violence against women and jail time.
In some ways, Best cheated death, delayed the inevitable. He was in such a sorry state twenty years ago, that people then were saying he only had a few years to live.
He was an icon of an age, the Sixties, that was full of them the dead Kennedys, Jagger, Twiggy, John, Paul, George and Ringo. The 'fifth Beatle' came to prominence at the dawn of the jet age and satellite TV. He was possibly the first real soccer superstar. Just as Northern Ireland was bubbling with political unrest there was an Irish genius dominating the playing fields of England. And all the time the sense of a fleeting moment.
This was an age not just of heroes but of dead heroes. He indulged a lifestyle that did not take tomorrow into account.
We loved him for it. Live life like the young and the reckless. To hell with Bobby or Jack Charlton telling you to calm down, to hell with players of little talent telling you to spare yourself so that you could burn longer but dimmer. Fast cars, fast women and night was for clubbing not sleeping. George Best doing something in moderation? A contradiction.
One humid London night in May 1968 Best produced not a performance but an extravaganza that helped Manchester United capture their holygrail, the European Cup. Best scored a superb goal and he later claimed that after rounding the Benfica goalkeeper and seeing the empty net, he decided to stop the ball on the goalline, lie down and head it in. But changed his mind when he realised that a trick like that would be just too outrageous. What other player would even consider such a ploy.
Yes, he was a genius, like Oscar Wilde another condemned Irishman from another era. They could both make the ordinary, prose or a ball, seem extraordinary. We knew it was a privilege to see him play, red shirt out, ball at his feet. He gave us so much pleasure but denied himself.
United and Best. As they said of another icon, let it not be forgot that for one brief, shining, moment there was Camelot.
STORY 2c
The worst side of Best
By Alexander Lindsay 12/09/2005 12:00 AM
No one likes to speak ill of the dead, but I am going to stick my neckout and take a clinical look at the recent mass mourning fest surrounding the death of a wife beater, serial adulterer, irresponsible drunk and inveterate gambler.
Oh yes, nearly forgot he was a genius footballer too.
If I may borrow from Mark Anthony's irony-laced eulogy to Julius Caesar: I come to bury George Best, not to praise him.
I bear no personal ill will against George Best for the way he conducted his life. But the sight of half a million tearful people lining the streets in a display of emotion worthy of Mother Teresa, cannot help but say something about the wayward values that have taken over Western society, led by the god of celebrity. Celebrity forgives everything, no matter how heinous.
Misty-eyed tributes came from public figures, including British PrimeMinister Tony Blair. Flags flew at half-mast on public buildings, as if some head of state had passed away. The rhetoric matched the occasion. He was described as a "perfect" human being. A man "without whom the world will be a sadder place".
Soccer might well be sadder. But the world? Debatable.
His faults were airbrushed out of existence, his life sanitised to the point of beatitude.
Let us take a brief look at George Best's scorecard off the field.
He drank to ridiculous excess and got violent with those around him.He drank to the extent that his liver packed in. He was given a transplant a precious gift from a donor who selflessly let his organ be used so that another might live.
And what does he do? He resumes his binge drinking and wrecks that liver too. A liver that might have saved another patient on a long waiting list.
According to one account, when tackled about it he cynically retorted that the new liver he was abusing had been donated "without strings attached" as to the behaviour of the recipient.
He once hacked off his second wife's hair and drew all over her body with a marker pen. On her 25th birthday he kicked and punched her after a drunken row.
There are those who argue that Best was a victim of his own celebrity. Not so.
For we already know that the god of celebrity is a forgiving god. Many achieve celebrity or have celebrity thrust upon them, yet manage to handle it.
It was Best's own self-indulgence and callous disregard for others that tainted his celebrity. He was whitewashed and the crowds turned out in their hundreds of thousands in a feeding frenzy of emotion.
And what kind of emotion? Were they grieving for George Best the man?Certainly not, for only his family and friends have a mandate to grieve for the man. The rest is artificial. Half a million people wearing their hearts on their sleeves in the name of celebrity.
George Best is acknowledged by most as the greatest footballer ever. And no one, least of all I, would want to tarnish that reputation. But in the end, as one observer cynically put it: George Best's final score: Celebrity 1, Responsibility 0.
STORY 3
John Lennon's first wife out to set the record straight
Tod Robberson The Dallas Morning News Dec. 1, 2005 6:00 PM
LONDON - She had a ticket to ride with one of the greatest rock bands of all time. But if Cynthia Lennon had known the emotional pain that would accompany her decade-long journey with John, Paul, George and Ringo, she says she would have walked away in a heartbeat.
In an interview nearly 25 years after the death of Beatles founder John Lennon, Cynthia Lennon recalled her former husband as both a genius and hugely flawed man whose insecurities drove him to commitacts of cowardice, cruelty and betrayal against the people closest to him.
He was mean, she suggested. He beat her and kept her apart from the things she loved - most notably, him.
She said he abandoned their son, Julian, for years, and his behavior became more irrational and withdrawn as he experimented with drugs such as LSD and heroin in the late 1960s. Much of her private experience differed sharply from the image Lennon enjoyed publicly as a campaigner for love and world peace.
"I always believed that idols have feet of clay," Cynthia Lennon, 66,said. "I thought it was important for the fans and the people who really believed in John ... (to remember that) he was human. He was no saint, and he was no sinner. But he had a special talent that touched everybody's hearts."
Cynthia Lennon published a best-selling book, "John," in October to commemorate his life but also, as she said, to "balance the scales"between the myth and reality.
The first half of the book focuses on the couple's romance in art school during the late 1950s, Lennon's early musical career and thes kyrocketing fame of the Beatles from the early 1960s onward. Thesecond half chronicles the Beatles' experimentation with drugs and transcendental meditation, Lennon's growing distance from his wife and colleagues and, subsequently, the couple's divorce that followed his extramarital affair with Ono in 1968.
"It wasn't a derogatory story. It was a true story. I think my intention in writing the book was to enlighten people who loved John and his memory about certain facts that I lived through - we lived through - and just to fill in a few spaces, really," she explained.
Although Lennon and Ono attracted enormous publicity with various stunts, such as their repeated "bed-ins" for peace, Cynthia Lennon said it is important to understand a fuller picture of his life.
"I knew John from the age of 18, and it was part and parcel of my life to live with this man and to see who he was, his talents and his weaknesses," she said.
She attributes his bitterness later in life to lingering feelings of loss after the death of his mother, Julia, in 1959; the domineering influence of his aunt and surrogate parent, Mimi Smith; and his upbringing without a father, who left the family after forcing John,at age 5, to choose between him and his mother.
Her book gives detailed accounts of Lennon's intense jealousy and fear in adulthood of being abandoned. He physically attacked Cynthia in 1959 after he learned that she had danced with his best friend, Stuart Sutcliffe, at a party. Conversely, she includes the text of various letters he wrote to her throughout their marriage vowing his eternal love and devotion.
Drugs and, subsequently, Ono's controlling influence turned Lennon into an unsmiling and seemingly unhappy man from the late 1960s onward, when he outwardly preached messages of inner tranquility and world togetherness, his first wife said.
Cynthia Lennon said she had received no warning in 1968 that her marriage to Lennon was over. She arrived home one day to find him sitting on the floor of the couple's bedroom next to Ono, who was wearing Cynthia's bathrobe.
Rather than talk to her directly, he announced his divorce plans to her through the British news media, she said.
Julian Lennon, their son, was subjected to repeated violent outbursts and mocking criticism by his father. John Lennon once so severely criticized the boy's manner of laughing that, to this day, Julian rarely laughs, Cynthia Lennon said.
"I think John lost an awful lot of his humor and his wit, which were part and parcel of his creativity," she said. "I felt he was fighting many, many battles. And I think he had a lot of guilt for what had happened. But John was never one to admit to anything. He would battle on and fight. I think a lot of aggression came out in his music,especially in the latter years."
In the foreword to her book, Julian Lennon, 40, described John Lennon as "the father I loved and who let me down in so many ways. ... (He) was a remarkable man who stood for peace and love in the world. But at the same time, he found it very hard to show any peace and love to his first family - my mother and me."
Ono has not responded to the numerous allegations and criticisms leveled at her in the book.
Asked whether she feared the possibility that Ono could use her wealth to bankrupt Cynthia Lennon in litigation, the author said, "I've never been afraid of Yoko. Never, ever. ... Everything I've written in thebook is absolutely true, so I don't feel particularly afraid of being sued or anything else. I've got the evidence. I have letters, I have all the things necessary."
She said she had no intention of engaging in a war of words with Ono,who is routinely described by music critics and Beatles biographers as a principal factor in the group's breakup. But she suggested that Ono's failure to make peace with her critics is something "she should think about."
Although Cynthia Lennon used words such as "cowardly," "cruel" and"brutal," to describe her former husband, her overall impression of him remains a positive one.
"He was hysterical, he was historical. He was fun. He was so multitalented. When he was good, he was really, really good," shesaid. "And when he was bad, he was horrid." Read more!
Saturday, December 10, 2005
OCD for beginners
Now that I mentioned in a previous post what put me to sleep, it's only fair to list down the unputdownables. So here goes.
1) Misery by Stephen King. This one had me awake all through the night, pacing the room holding the book in one hand, feverishly devouring each word.
2) Where Eagles Dare. Soon as I would finish the book, I would turn to page 1 and start all over again. I must have read it at least 30 times. Couldn't get enough of Captain "Johann Schmidt"!
3) Still Life With Woodpecker and Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. Wonderful crazy lyrical novels. What else can I say? If you have read them, you know what I mean.
4) The Big Lebowski. What a crazy brilliant movie. I could watch it again and again. And did. Jeff Bridges is great. Goodman is excellent. And I fell in love with Julianne Moore in this one. and with Tara Reid. Full of throwaway lines and obscure references, just the way I like them.
5) The Sunshine Boys. The eternal favourite. Walter Matthau is brilliantly crotchety and George Burns' timing rocks! Read more!
1) Misery by Stephen King. This one had me awake all through the night, pacing the room holding the book in one hand, feverishly devouring each word.
2) Where Eagles Dare. Soon as I would finish the book, I would turn to page 1 and start all over again. I must have read it at least 30 times. Couldn't get enough of Captain "Johann Schmidt"!
3) Still Life With Woodpecker and Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. Wonderful crazy lyrical novels. What else can I say? If you have read them, you know what I mean.
4) The Big Lebowski. What a crazy brilliant movie. I could watch it again and again. And did. Jeff Bridges is great. Goodman is excellent. And I fell in love with Julianne Moore in this one. and with Tara Reid. Full of throwaway lines and obscure references, just the way I like them.
5) The Sunshine Boys. The eternal favourite. Walter Matthau is brilliantly crotchety and George Burns' timing rocks! Read more!
Friday, December 02, 2005
Zeigarnik Effect, anyone?
Here's a list of movies I slept through:
-Silsila (To be honest, I was a kid when it came out)
-GWTW
-Mission Impossible 2 (it really was an impossible mission staying awake!)
-Seabiscuit (Dozed off while watching the DVD, so there's still hope I'll get around to watching it. Devoured the book, though!)
-Sin City (yeah yeah, severed limbs and gratuitous violence can only hold your interest so much!) :-)
And the unfinished books:
-Moby Dick
-GWTW (I mean, come ON! But at least I tried!)
-The God of small things (Couldn't get past the 1st page!)
-Little Dorrit
-A Modern Instance Read more!
-Silsila (To be honest, I was a kid when it came out)
-GWTW
-Mission Impossible 2 (it really was an impossible mission staying awake!)
-Seabiscuit (Dozed off while watching the DVD, so there's still hope I'll get around to watching it. Devoured the book, though!)
-Sin City (yeah yeah, severed limbs and gratuitous violence can only hold your interest so much!) :-)
And the unfinished books:
-Moby Dick
-GWTW (I mean, come ON! But at least I tried!)
-The God of small things (Couldn't get past the 1st page!)
-Little Dorrit
-A Modern Instance Read more!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
