Day 2
Enid Blyton's descriptions of English farms came alive as I looked upon the barn with clucking hens pecking away merrily and a little cocker spaniel (named Buster maybe? No, Buster was a Scottish Terrier and anyway that would have been asking for too much!) panted and gazed expectantly with sad eyes at us, as if willing us to throw a wooden stick for him to catch.
We had just alighted from our car after a 45 minutes journey from Edinburgh, to check out Mavis Hall Park, the venue for the outdoors activity we had planned for our group. The drive was again very pleasant, passing through small villages with quaint names and with green hillocks on both sides. It was drizzling lightly when we started and got steadily stronger as the journey progressed. But then that's the charm of English (sorry, Scottish!) weather!
A charming and pleasantly smiling lady named Fiona met us on arrival and ushered the three of us into her room. This was a converted shed on the farm, and was very cosy inside though cluttered all over just like a regular office space. There was another connected chamber which was occupied by some mysterious female voice that materialised just once to hand us some tea and then was never seen again (I mean, by us during our visit!).
The aforementioned spaniel, Fly was busy running between our legs and trying to introduce himself. Our hostess meanwhile had asked for some hot tea from that disembodied voice and there were some pieces of Scottish shortbread on the table. While Kirstie, our local contact and Shady, our event coordinator were busy sorting out the program details with the hostess, I was looking around the room. It was somewhat disconcerting to find a PC in these surroundings with windows of emails and Word documents open on the monitor. There was a small fax somewhere too. There were stacks of neatly labelled files on the floor. Visiting cards were put up on corkboard. Various Scottish-themed knickknacks like clan badges were scattered all over.
Having gone through the program details, we then pulled on some Wellingtons and clomped our way into the barn behind the office. This would be where the guests would be welcomed with a hot cup of tea or coffee (nothing stronger!). We came out of the barn, crossed the road and walked along a muddy path winding through the woods. We were closely surrounded with trees and shrubs on both sides of the ath. I could also hear the gurgling sound of a brook up ahead. Soon enough, we saw the brook somewhat below us to our right. The scene was absolutely enchanting.
After a few minutes of walking, we came across a vast clearing of grass that had a charming little loch at the far end. This was where our group would be playing traditional Scottish highland games. I could also see a medium sized castle to my left which presumably belonged to the landlord. The entire area was surrounded by mountains on three sides which gave it a very charming air.
We came back to the hotel by noon, and I retired to my room for a bit of rest and also to catch up on my email. I ordered a club sandwich from room service, which was an adventure by itself, since this hotel is not one of those conventional touristy hotels but is a character by itself. Anyway, I rested a while and waited for the group to arrive by 2pm. Their flight got delayed and they finally arrived by around 5pm or so.
Most people in the group were already familiar to me from previous trips but there were a few new faces as well, including a female. Hmm, the last time we had had a female in our trip had been a couple of years back in South Africa and that had turned out to be a rather interesting experience! But more on that later.
We had kept a light schedule for the group for the day of their arrival; just a spot of dinner followed by bed or the more adventurous ones could go out to explore the nightlife.
Over the light dinner, I welcomed the group to the event and congratulated them for being the high achievers that they were. I outlined the coming 3 days' program and explained a few helpful facts, including the contents of haggis, the Scots national dish. They were gratifyingly revolted.
Read more!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Stranger in a strange land: Memories of Scotland
Day 1
"Ajfxrtr jrrr uwg fgnkrng?" The girl at the immigration asked me. I looked uncomprehendingly at her.
She tried again, "Fheryjf sf krhg gtekjgfa sdtjhyg?" I gaped at her like a country bumpkin.
Then she tried it slower and louder, at this mentally retarded person.
"Do you speak English?"
The indignation was dripping from my voice as I answered, "Of course I do!"
And that was my introduction to Glasgow English.
I had a taste of more of the same when our driver who was driving us to Edinburgh tried to explain some of the scenery to us, and we would just try to read his lips and nod away smiling, because for the life of us, we could not figure out what he was saying. He kept asking me about some collar and I kept trying to figure out where that fitted into our conversation, because we had been discussing neither shirts nor dogs. Then it dawned on me that he was asking me if we found Glasgow cooler!
It is a rather humbling experience when after a lifetime of speaking and writing English fluently, you run into the wall of regional dialects and are made to appear a fool or a retard.
The flight from Dubai had been very comfortable though a bit long. Thankfully I had been bumped up to business class, so it was okay. I spent the long flight watching movies ("I Could Never Be Your Woman", "Charlie Bartlett"). We actually landed a couple of minutes before schedule (12:30pm), and the pilot announced this fact as if expecting an applause!
So after we had cleared immigration & customs, and collected out baggage which didn't take very long since I had just 1 small case, we ventured out and were met by the aforementioned driver who ushered us into a large sleek Merc. Hmmm!
We stopped just outside the airport to check out a hotel called Glynhill for lunch arrangements for the large group that would be following us tomorrow in the same flight. Nice hotel, but a tad expensive. We didn't think the group would be sufficiently hungry for a full-fledged 3 course meal. So then we went on to check other places, like a roadside service station which had a nice convenience store serving big sandwiches, juices and coffee.
After that, we continued onwards to Edinburgh. On both sides of the road were undulating green valleys full of bales of hay and sheep. Not many cows though. The weather was pretty good, with overcast skies and quite a bit of sunshine.
We reached Edinburgh at around 3pm. The Scotsman where we were staying is a very different kind of a hotel. First of all, it was never built to be one. It was the headquarters of The Scotsman newspaper, and was later converted into a hotel. So the entire design of this place is bewildering. The rooms are very comfortable and impressive though they were obviously some poor editor's office once upon a time. The Editor's suite where I was put up is a grand old place with wooden panelling all over the rooms, and small knobs indicating where there is a cupboard built cleverly into the wooden panel. There is even a secret hatch through which one can slide out the room service plates once one is finished with the meals, or put out one's shoes to be polished in the evening. The bedroom window looks out over the railway station a couple of stories below us, and one can gaze upon the stately structure of The Balmoral, another hotel nearby.
All this was not discovered by me immediately, since we had to rush out by 4pm to examine a venue for the Grand Dinner to be held on the last night of the event. And what a venue it turned out to be!
The Royal Yacht Britannia is a decommissioned Royal Yacht previously belonging to the Queen. It was decommissioned in 1997, and as the story goes, the Queen shed a tear when it was finally docked at its berth in Edinburgh port.
We were met by a lovely blonde (no, it's not relevant to the story, but still!) girl who took us around the boat and showed us the arrangements for the Grand Dinner. I will not go into details now, but let this be said, the plans were really Grand!
While discussing all the details over a cup of tea served in a monogrammed tea set (but of course!), I espied some mementos in the wall shelves, and asked the tour guide if there was a tourist shop on the boat. Of course there was. But since it wouldn't be open during our dinner time on Friday, I asked to be taken to it afterward so as to do some "impromptu" shopping. Having done that, we left the boat.
In the evening, we went off to The Living Room, a restaurant which would be hosting our group later this week. A nice cozy place, with live music. I had a grilled salmon washed down with 1664 beer, and then had a shot of 10 year old Macallan. Lovely! Read more!
"Ajfxrtr jrrr uwg fgnkrng?" The girl at the immigration asked me. I looked uncomprehendingly at her.
She tried again, "Fheryjf sf krhg gtekjgfa sdtjhyg?" I gaped at her like a country bumpkin.
Then she tried it slower and louder, at this mentally retarded person.
"Do you speak English?"
The indignation was dripping from my voice as I answered, "Of course I do!"
And that was my introduction to Glasgow English.
I had a taste of more of the same when our driver who was driving us to Edinburgh tried to explain some of the scenery to us, and we would just try to read his lips and nod away smiling, because for the life of us, we could not figure out what he was saying. He kept asking me about some collar and I kept trying to figure out where that fitted into our conversation, because we had been discussing neither shirts nor dogs. Then it dawned on me that he was asking me if we found Glasgow cooler!
It is a rather humbling experience when after a lifetime of speaking and writing English fluently, you run into the wall of regional dialects and are made to appear a fool or a retard.
The flight from Dubai had been very comfortable though a bit long. Thankfully I had been bumped up to business class, so it was okay. I spent the long flight watching movies ("I Could Never Be Your Woman", "Charlie Bartlett"). We actually landed a couple of minutes before schedule (12:30pm), and the pilot announced this fact as if expecting an applause!
So after we had cleared immigration & customs, and collected out baggage which didn't take very long since I had just 1 small case, we ventured out and were met by the aforementioned driver who ushered us into a large sleek Merc. Hmmm!
We stopped just outside the airport to check out a hotel called Glynhill for lunch arrangements for the large group that would be following us tomorrow in the same flight. Nice hotel, but a tad expensive. We didn't think the group would be sufficiently hungry for a full-fledged 3 course meal. So then we went on to check other places, like a roadside service station which had a nice convenience store serving big sandwiches, juices and coffee.
After that, we continued onwards to Edinburgh. On both sides of the road were undulating green valleys full of bales of hay and sheep. Not many cows though. The weather was pretty good, with overcast skies and quite a bit of sunshine.
We reached Edinburgh at around 3pm. The Scotsman where we were staying is a very different kind of a hotel. First of all, it was never built to be one. It was the headquarters of The Scotsman newspaper, and was later converted into a hotel. So the entire design of this place is bewildering. The rooms are very comfortable and impressive though they were obviously some poor editor's office once upon a time. The Editor's suite where I was put up is a grand old place with wooden panelling all over the rooms, and small knobs indicating where there is a cupboard built cleverly into the wooden panel. There is even a secret hatch through which one can slide out the room service plates once one is finished with the meals, or put out one's shoes to be polished in the evening. The bedroom window looks out over the railway station a couple of stories below us, and one can gaze upon the stately structure of The Balmoral, another hotel nearby.
All this was not discovered by me immediately, since we had to rush out by 4pm to examine a venue for the Grand Dinner to be held on the last night of the event. And what a venue it turned out to be!
The Royal Yacht Britannia is a decommissioned Royal Yacht previously belonging to the Queen. It was decommissioned in 1997, and as the story goes, the Queen shed a tear when it was finally docked at its berth in Edinburgh port.
We were met by a lovely blonde (no, it's not relevant to the story, but still!) girl who took us around the boat and showed us the arrangements for the Grand Dinner. I will not go into details now, but let this be said, the plans were really Grand!
While discussing all the details over a cup of tea served in a monogrammed tea set (but of course!), I espied some mementos in the wall shelves, and asked the tour guide if there was a tourist shop on the boat. Of course there was. But since it wouldn't be open during our dinner time on Friday, I asked to be taken to it afterward so as to do some "impromptu" shopping. Having done that, we left the boat.
In the evening, we went off to The Living Room, a restaurant which would be hosting our group later this week. A nice cozy place, with live music. I had a grilled salmon washed down with 1664 beer, and then had a shot of 10 year old Macallan. Lovely! Read more!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
It takes a village
A few minutes back, I see a little girl of 3 or 4 stepping off the curb at the traffic light, and there's no adult in sight. So instinctively I wag a finger at her, sternly telling her to stay on the pavement. She obeys immediately, with a guilty look on her face.
So then I am thinking to myself while walking the rest of the way home that these days you don't really see any children being admonished or told off by some unrelated grown up, when the kids are seen making some wrong move in public. We all want to be seen as politically correct. Even when parents are present and don't lift a finger to quieten a screaming child in a restaurant or to shake their head at a kid busily exploring the inside of her nose while being introduced to people in public, other adults will sit there, beaming beatifically at the "little angel". Their attitude seems to be either that this is none of their business or a quiet feeling of heartwarming schadenfreude.
In either case, kids get to feel that whatever they do is perfectly all right, and that they are generally free to create any ruckus anywhere anytime. If this was all there was to it, I could still console myself that the world will just have to adjust itself to several more ill-behaved grownups 20 years later. But serious implications can happen if such acquiescence continues to be extended towards antisocial or even reckless tendencies. Consider the example I started off my blog with. A kid that steps off the curb unattended and survives will be encouraged to do the same thing again and again. Oh, maybe that sort of behaviour does explain jaywalkers in Calcutta!
Previous generations would never have stood for this sort of mollycoddling. A firm whack on the side of the head was due to any kid that dared raise his voice in public, even if the administerer was someone not directly related. Horror of horrors, the parents would never take the side of the kid, as & when they got to know of it. It would be the principle that mattered, not the individuals involved or their relationship to the parents.
It does take an entire village to bring up a child. Read more!
So then I am thinking to myself while walking the rest of the way home that these days you don't really see any children being admonished or told off by some unrelated grown up, when the kids are seen making some wrong move in public. We all want to be seen as politically correct. Even when parents are present and don't lift a finger to quieten a screaming child in a restaurant or to shake their head at a kid busily exploring the inside of her nose while being introduced to people in public, other adults will sit there, beaming beatifically at the "little angel". Their attitude seems to be either that this is none of their business or a quiet feeling of heartwarming schadenfreude.
In either case, kids get to feel that whatever they do is perfectly all right, and that they are generally free to create any ruckus anywhere anytime. If this was all there was to it, I could still console myself that the world will just have to adjust itself to several more ill-behaved grownups 20 years later. But serious implications can happen if such acquiescence continues to be extended towards antisocial or even reckless tendencies. Consider the example I started off my blog with. A kid that steps off the curb unattended and survives will be encouraged to do the same thing again and again. Oh, maybe that sort of behaviour does explain jaywalkers in Calcutta!
Previous generations would never have stood for this sort of mollycoddling. A firm whack on the side of the head was due to any kid that dared raise his voice in public, even if the administerer was someone not directly related. Horror of horrors, the parents would never take the side of the kid, as & when they got to know of it. It would be the principle that mattered, not the individuals involved or their relationship to the parents.
It does take an entire village to bring up a child. Read more!
Actions and consequences
So this woman in my office comes over to me and starts making small talk. I am obviously a bit wary, frantically thinking ahead about what she wants out of me. You see, she belongs to a religious "cult" or movement where the followers are led to believe Sri Krishna is the One & Only God, their "Ain True Love". Well, imagine that! What is the use of being a Hindu if you have to believe in just one god, when there are so many millions more! I mean, the entire point is Choice, isn't it?
The last time this woman had approached me was to request me to print out a .jpg image as a big color poster, which she said she needed for some religious meeting. The best I could do for her was an A3 size poster, and she said that was fine. So she mailed me this file, which I duly printed out. So what was that image? Some happily smiling benign deity, colored indigo blue, playing among cows and frolicking with Gopikas? I wish it was as mundane as that!
The picture showed a man with his mouth wide open, screaming. Why? Well, you would be screaming too, if your innards were on display, and you were being eaten alive by a mound of termites. The picture was so garishly colored and revolting that I couldn't bear to look at it more than a second. It was more horrifying than Aaron Eckhardt's Two-face in The Gotham Knight.
Apparently this was what would happen to you if you were a nasty person that didn't believe in Sri Krishna being the only and only. I hoped that their religious meetings precluded any children attending, otherwise there is going to be this entire generation of Hindu children growing up with psychedelic nightmares of agonised screaming faces being eaten alive by crawling insects. Whatever happened to the concepts of love, truth and peace?
So this had been my previous encounter with this lovely lady. Now I was wondering what in the name of god she wanted from me now.
So after the inital inane pleasantries are over, she asks me if I can give her a few of those portable backup hard drives that are stacked in the storage room under my name. I ask why she needs more than one. She says she wants to distribute them to her religious congregation. I tell her that they are not mine to give away since they have been purchased as giveaways to customers, and are company property.
Later she send me a couple of emails, and I quote exactly from them below:
"I don’t mind taking all of the drives, I can distribute it to people within my satsang (religious gathering), I think its ok for them..."
"Could you kindly ask _____ on my behalf or shall I send him a message? I don’t know his proper name and email, send it to me please and also he doesn’t know me very well and may say no to me...so I request you to ask him if that’s ok. Otherwise I will ask him, no probs, then whatever he say, "Hari Iccha"."
"What I usually do is send to Vrindavan (...) temple where is a need for these things...See if you can manage otherwise forget the whole thing..."
"Pls. try, it’s a donation to the temple..Krsna will bless you yaar..."
My reply to her? "Krishna may bless me, the company auditors won't!"
I know that Lord Krishna said:
कर्मण्ये वाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचनः
मा कर्मः फलः हेतुर भुर्मतेय संगोस्त्व अकर्मणि
You have a right to perform your prescribed action,but you are not entitled to the fruits of your action.
Never consider yourself the cause of the results your activities,and never be associated to not doing your duty.
But this question puzzles me: If you want to do some good, especially among your religious congregation, how can you in good faith give them things which you know were not acquired in the right way or were not yours to give away in the first place? And if so, you are not just committing a sin, but also compounding it by having others acquiesce in your act by accepting such gifts.
The last time this woman had approached me was to request me to print out a .jpg image as a big color poster, which she said she needed for some religious meeting. The best I could do for her was an A3 size poster, and she said that was fine. So she mailed me this file, which I duly printed out. So what was that image? Some happily smiling benign deity, colored indigo blue, playing among cows and frolicking with Gopikas? I wish it was as mundane as that!
The picture showed a man with his mouth wide open, screaming. Why? Well, you would be screaming too, if your innards were on display, and you were being eaten alive by a mound of termites. The picture was so garishly colored and revolting that I couldn't bear to look at it more than a second. It was more horrifying than Aaron Eckhardt's Two-face in The Gotham Knight.
Apparently this was what would happen to you if you were a nasty person that didn't believe in Sri Krishna being the only and only. I hoped that their religious meetings precluded any children attending, otherwise there is going to be this entire generation of Hindu children growing up with psychedelic nightmares of agonised screaming faces being eaten alive by crawling insects. Whatever happened to the concepts of love, truth and peace?
So this had been my previous encounter with this lovely lady. Now I was wondering what in the name of god she wanted from me now.
So after the inital inane pleasantries are over, she asks me if I can give her a few of those portable backup hard drives that are stacked in the storage room under my name. I ask why she needs more than one. She says she wants to distribute them to her religious congregation. I tell her that they are not mine to give away since they have been purchased as giveaways to customers, and are company property.
Later she send me a couple of emails, and I quote exactly from them below:
"I don’t mind taking all of the drives, I can distribute it to people within my satsang (religious gathering), I think its ok for them..."
"Could you kindly ask _____ on my behalf or shall I send him a message? I don’t know his proper name and email, send it to me please and also he doesn’t know me very well and may say no to me...so I request you to ask him if that’s ok. Otherwise I will ask him, no probs, then whatever he say, "Hari Iccha"."
"What I usually do is send to Vrindavan (...) temple where is a need for these things...See if you can manage otherwise forget the whole thing..."
"Pls. try, it’s a donation to the temple..Krsna will bless you yaar..."
My reply to her? "Krishna may bless me, the company auditors won't!"
I know that Lord Krishna said:
कर्मण्ये वाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचनः
मा कर्मः फलः हेतुर भुर्मतेय संगोस्त्व अकर्मणि
You have a right to perform your prescribed action,but you are not entitled to the fruits of your action.
Never consider yourself the cause of the results your activities,and never be associated to not doing your duty.
But this question puzzles me: If you want to do some good, especially among your religious congregation, how can you in good faith give them things which you know were not acquired in the right way or were not yours to give away in the first place? And if so, you are not just committing a sin, but also compounding it by having others acquiesce in your act by accepting such gifts.
Read more!
Friday, November 23, 2007
The Golden Whip
Okay, so we've heard of the Palm d'Or at the Cannes, the Golden Bear at the Berlin Filmfest, and our own practical shawl & Rs. 1 lakh, but this one is deliciously ironic and wickedly funny!
http://allafrica.com/stories/200711210423.html
Bloggers Plan Parallel Film Festival on Police Torture
Reporters sans Frontières (Paris)
PRESS RELEASE
21 November 2007
Posted to the web 21 November 2007
How I wish our own Indian blogging community, though so technologically savvy, had embraced video blogs in a similar way! After all, when it comes to torture and official brutality, our national motto is:
___ में अपनी दम नहीं
पर हम कीसीसे कम नहीं Read more!
http://allafrica.com/stories/200711210423.html
Bloggers Plan Parallel Film Festival on Police Torture
Reporters sans Frontières (Paris)
PRESS RELEASE
21 November 2007
Posted to the web 21 November 2007
Egyptian bloggers have announced that, while the Cairo film festival is taking place from 27 November to 7 December, they will hold a parallel festival in which a "Golden Whip" will be awarded to the best video showing "controversial acts of torture allegedly committed by the security authorities."
How I wish our own Indian blogging community, though so technologically savvy, had embraced video blogs in a similar way! After all, when it comes to torture and official brutality, our national motto is:
___ में अपनी दम नहीं
पर हम कीसीसे कम नहीं Read more!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Crashing the disk
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!
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!
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!
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