A cuppa tea and a few thoughts

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Mohd Rafi: Today is the 29th Death anniversary of Mohammed Rafi. I found out this website dedicated to his memory. There was a time when Rafi saab's songs flooded Vividbharathi, India's favourite radio station. That was when, as an adolescent, I dreamed dreams to the tune of these songs. Do visit the site, pay your respects and listen to a few of his songs.

Horoscope: My horoscope for the day says, "Don't propose any sacrifice which you may regret later." I haven't the foggiest what that means. I read it every day, nonetheless. I guess most of us do. Not that we believe in it, but every morning it is essential while browsing the cartoons and entertainment columns to take a peek and say to myself, oh, I see I am going to have a fabulous day and all my colleagues are going to fall at my feet. It's another thing that the day would end with me in tears! I go back to read it again the next day. So today, as was advised, I did not propose any sacrifice that I would regret later.

Homeopathy is a difficult medical science to follow. One who decides to pursue it needs to put his body, mind and soul into it. It is easy to get lost and lose faith in the medicine because of its slowness in healing.

Monsoons this year have been playing hide-and-seek with us. They made their appearance in June, then disappeared, again unexpectedly showed their face in early July. After which we concluded that this year's monsoons, sigh, have been very truant, well, what can be done? they are gone and we hope to get a more favourable monsoon next year, and then suddenly there they are! Laughing with glee and pouring down on us when the three-year-old wants to take a walk after his afternoon nap. The climate has been playing very naughty games with us this year. One would think the climate is a three-year-old as well.

Blogs: I read a lot of blogs during the day. Some are my regular visits, even though they may not feature in my blogroll in the right frame. Some I chance upon from other places. But as in everything else, I have felt that the first impression decides whether I stay long or not. I find myself put off by small fonts, black backgrounds, long, long paragraphs of posts with no breaks in between. Which is why my blog looks like it is designed for the weak of the eyes (large fonts).

The month is over before I realised it. It has been a busy month, I must have read the same pages of text over and over and over again, about 40 times at least - no, I do not exaggerate. Every time I see something I missed the last time, so again I propose changes, and then again, and again. I hope it is finally over today, the end of this week, the end of this month, I hope it is the end of my reading work!

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Karna and Parashuram

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The greatest epics of the Indian soil, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, have been placed in this world with a purpose (well, several purposes). Each scene, each action, is a lesson to those who wish to learn. If you have heard the stories at least once, they have this ability to stay in your mind and emerge at a seemingly insignificant time.

One of the stories that I find quite appealing is Karna's encounter with Parashuram to acquire a skill that no Kshattriya could learn, that would make him one of the most powerful of them all. However he had to tell a lie to gain his end, and, when Parashuram came to know of it, was punished.

The following text was copied from this site:


Karna was keen to acquire the Brahmastra mantra from the great teacher Parashuram. However, he knew that Parashuram gave instructions to Brahmins (the priestly tribe) only. So he disguised as a Brahmin and beseeched Parashuram to accept him as a shishya(disciple). Parashuram accepted him as such and started giving him instructions. One day when Parashuram was resting with his head in Karnas lap, it so happened that a bee stung Karna on the lower portion of his thigh. It was very painful and he started bleeding. However, fearing that if he moved his legs, he would awaken Parashuram, he did not move at all and continued to suffer. When Parashuram woke up, he saw Karna bleeding. He asked, Son, tell me truthfully who you are? A Brahmin cannot suffer so much physical pain. Only a kshattriya (the warrior tribe) can endure so much discomfort. Karna was obliged to disclose his identity. Parashuram was greatly annoyed because he was a sworn enemy of Kshattriyas. He therefore cursed Karna that as he had learnt through deceit, he shall forget the vidya (skill) which Parashuram had taught him, at a crucial juncture.
...

Parashuram's curse was to prove Karna's undoing. At the Kurukshetra battle, when face to face with Arjuna, Karna forgot the Brahmastra mantra taught to him by Parshuram. The wheels of his chariot sank in soft earth and he was immobilised. At that time, Arjuna defeated him.

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Questions of a 3-year old

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1. Why do the same advertisements that I see in my TV appear in my neighbour's TV as well?

2. Why do we eat daily? When will we stop eating?

3. Why do buses have bombs on them? (He has been watching too much TV, and there has been too much bad news lately!)

4. Why do we have necks? Is it to turn our heads about?

5. Doesn't the donkey catch a cold if it stands in the rain? (After seeing one on the road side, standing motionless in the rain)

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The Guide - the Book, the Movie

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The Guide, the book (1958) by R K Narayan, and Guide, the film(1965) were both released before my birth, so it was perhaps inevitable that I saw the movie even before I heard of the book. In fact, at my first viewing, I did not know it was the adaptation of a book. I perhaps did not even completely follow the story, I loved the film for its songs. Ah, the songs of Guide! The hair on the back of my neck stands in reverence even as I think about them. The lyrics are mind-blowing, and even if you don't understand them, you would enjoy the melodious voices of S D Burman, Lata, Rafi and Kishore.

Anyway, I finally got around to reading the book now only - 50 years after it was first published. I believe the film has done as much justice to the book as possible (though it made the film rather too long to contain all the events of the story). True that some of the flaws of the characters in the book were straightened in the film. The heroes of a book can be defective, but not so of a movie. That part being sorted out, the only difference I could note was in the ending. The book never mentions whether it rained after all and ended the drought, or Raju survived his 12-day fasting. However in the film, it rains, and Raju dies.

The best part about reading R K Narayan's stories (Malgudi Days, Swami and Friends, and so forth) is that the characters are quite ordinary people. There is nothing "larger than life" about them. They make mistakes that you or I could make, they sometimes fail to see life flow alongside them, and plunge into its depths, swallow a great deal of water and emerge gasping and breathless. So does Raju flow with the tide, be overwhelmed by his emotions for Rosie that he lets go of his life, his Mother and every principle he lived by, finally finds himself in jail. On emerging from the jail, he is again led downstream by the current towards a small village, where he finds himself being hailed as a saint who could work wonders and bring them rain in the severe drought of the year.

Through his thoughts, we too wonder about Life, what we do with it and where it leads us.

At every mention of Raju or Rosie, in every page of the book, I saw Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman. Dev Anand, whom someone once called the "Gregory Peck of Indian cinema", more popularly known as the "Evergreen Dev Anand".


Beautiful book, beautiful film.

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Thought for the weekend

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Sometimes we find ourselves in a sea of depression, gasping for some reassurance, and unknowingly pass by little babies of good news lurking around the corner, striving to catch our attention. We may be looking for big, big slices of happiness, not finding which, we tend to drown in our miseries.

It's so disheartening that we have everything we need in this world and yet we yearn for something else, which may not be what we need or want or something that could give us happiness or satisfaction.

It is perhaps the cost of being human... the "most intelligent species on earth"...

And yet, sometimes I think it is this very sense of not being satisfied that leads man to follow his heart and dream up his amazing inventions, which make life so easier for us.

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Likes & Dislikes on a Thursday

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My dislikes...
* seeing children unhappy
* being hungry
* a long wait for someone who doesn't respect my time
* racking with cough in the middle of the night


My likes...
* children playing and squealing with laughter
* my National Flag fluttering in the breeze
* people's eyes lighting up, when they laugh at a good joke
* kitten with big round eyes prancing around
* the yawn of an infant
* songs of the Kishore-Rafi-Mukesh-Lata-Asha era

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Total Solar Eclipse

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Astronomers in this part of the world have been spending an excited dawn searching the skies for the solar eclipse of this year. It began at about a quarter past six and went on till half past seven, total eclipse visible in the northern region of India stretching from Gujarat in the west to Assam in the east.

Here at Bangalore, the eclipse was supposed to be 65%, the sun would rise already partially eclipsed, however when I got up around 7 and took a look through the sun-glasses, I was surprised - contrary to what the scientists predicted, it seemed to be a total eclipse! However, the sun was totally eclipsed by clouds, and not by the darkened moon.

News from Mumbai says the early morning sky-watchers were disappointed to the point of tears because the Rain Gods played mischief and the torrent did not stop till the eclipse was well out of the way.

News from Trivandrum is more encouraging, sun watchers have been able to see the promised partial eclipse, and they have breakfasted, content with the sight.

Do you have experiences to share about today's eclipse or any previous ones? Photos, links and comments welcome!

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Mamma's Babies

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She calls them Mittoo and Cheethu
She speaks to them daily
She calls them Mamma's babies
She feeds them milk and fruits

She showers love on them
They ought to be very happy
They have everything they need
Except, they live in a cage

They cannot fly out as they wish
The cage is too small
They cannot even spread their wings
They're parrots, for God's sake...

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