Weekends at Vadodara

Today I  had the joy of listening to  yet another 10.52MB SoundCloud track probably recorded by Hare Krishna devotees in Lima, Peru.  The song reminded me of Vadodara (where I worked for a year) and the ISKCON temple in the city. I used to enjoy Dharshan of the Deities in the temple and the eateries in their restaurant.

I fondly remember Amarnaathji, in whose auto I liked to go to Shree Krishna temple, Raghavendra Swamy Mutt and other such spiritual places in the city.  He is a nice gentleman of nearly my age. He was not just an autodriver to me; he was a like-minded friend. Just like in many places where I lived, people usually liked me (My mother and brother always say that if we are good to others they would be good to us. I have a different point of view: If we are good  to others, good people among them will be good to us). 

Vadodara is a historic city which is also very modern with fabulous shopping malls (such as Croma and Spencers very near my office located in Alkapuri).



I nostalgically remember my almost regular weekend shoppings, poori-sabji-milkshake dinners and chats with friends like Mr Madhwani (proprietor of the bakery) at Spencers. (Sometimes I used to dine at `Saffron' for its acoustically conducive atmosphere). I also used to visit an Amul outlet managed by a very cordial young couple. They had an assistant, who was nearly my age. Sometimes  I used to visit the outlet (which had a mini-restaurant as well) just to see them and relish their authentic `dhokla', a popular Gujarati delicacy. Whenever there was time, I liked to quench my academic thirst by buying some good paperback from `Crossword', a well known book store in the town.

Weekend outings had always been pleasant at Vadodara, thanks to its lower levels of  pollution and traffic density than in Chennai.  Though I liked the restaurant in ISKCON campus, I liked to go there only when I visited the temple to have Dharshan of the Deities.

Though Vadodara does have its own problems like traffic jams etc. commuting from one place to  another within the city is very cost effective (Vadodara autos run on meters and auto drivers don't demand exhorbitant fares like in Chennai). I'll write about this beautiful city in my future posts.       

Sound claps to SoundCloud

By God's Grace, I derived the joy of listening to a rendition of Vishnu Sahasra Naamam (One thousand names of Shree Mahaa Vishnu) on SoundCloud format this morning; the 30 minutes long rendition sung by M S Subbulakshmi was of excellent audio quality and was thoroughly uninterrupted. SoundCloud deserves sound claps.  

Trinidadians of Indian ancestry

Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Indian origin Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago visited our country in January.

 

Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar

Amidst busy schedule she took time to pay a seemingly emotional visit to her ancestral village in Bihar.

Trinidad Prime Minister in Bhelpur (her ancestral village in Bihar) 

This morning as I was reading newspapers from different countries (which is almost a regular weekend habit of mine), I came across an intertesting article about how Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar celebrated her 60th birthday on 17 April. The article illustrates as to how people of Indian origin still retain their culture and traditions. Perhaps you may like to read the article as well. 

Sacred music via SoundCloud

Eversince I began listening to audio via SoundCloud, I have developed a liking for the software because of its cabability of providing good quality uninterrupted sound even in my humble notebook.

Thanks to SoundCloud, this evening I had the joy of listening to excellent devotional songs from ISKCON Bangalore and those by San Fransisco based Dhanya Subramanian.

Technology can be immensely useful if managed properly.

Education in Hindu schools

Today in a fast changing world decaying values seem to be evident in many areas of human activities including K-12 schools.

Though K-12 Education can be managed effectively by using corporate principles, many of our schools including those run by Hindu organisations don't seem to apply them correctly. One main reason for this is the undue obsession for `marks' and `ranks' even at the cost of discipline and values. As service providers, many schools seem to simply follow this odd trend and impart education which isn't values oriented.

It is in this context that articles such as this one will be highly useful in schools which follow Hindu philosophy. 

Friend in need

By God's Grace, yesterday happened to be less hot than previous days here in Chennai. Though I don't like to go out in such a hot weather, yesterday I couldn't help it, as my real estate consultant was about to come today to  take a passport size photo of mine for processing registration of some land. Though I could take photocopies of docs such as ID proof and address proof using the photocopier attached to my notebook, lack of passport size photographs warranted my visit to a photo studio as land  registration offices still accept only `conventional' prints and not those which could be photocopied or scanned and printed.  (If I delay in submitting my photographs, it would delay the process of my buying the land in Chennai).   

Some twenty years back, getting a passport size photo would have taken half a day. Now that we live in the information technology era, I could get a reasonably good passport size photo (thanks to my webcam) and save the  digitally compact 700 X 700 pixels and 37.5 KB file in my pen drive very easily. After this, it was just a matter of 10 minutes to get the file processed at the photo studio.

Technology indeed brings ease and economics in our lives. It is like a friend in  need. Therefore it is very important that we don't abuse it.    

Plant talent and Principle of Karma

Many of us have seen ants moving in a very orderly manner (which we need to learn).

But many of us don't know facts such as leaf cutter ants can cut through leaves very precisely, bats use ultrasonic waves to  echolocate, plants turn toward the Sun, dolphins communicate with each other by using specific audio patterns and so on.

It is a proven fact that many plants and animals possess talents which we human beings cannot even imagine.

This evening I had the pleasure of reading an article about plants' talents, which I hope you may also like. During my student days (at Vorhees College, Vellore, India), Scientific American used to be one of my most favourite science magazines. The college had a vast collection of such magazines.

Postage stamp issued by INDIA POST on 10 July 2006

Though all animals possess talents, according to Hindu scriptures only human beings can distinguish between right and wrong. (For example, when a tiger hurts an animal, it doesn't know that it is doing something wrong).  This characteristic is reason enough for humans not to commit sin. Theory of Karma reinforces this fact very clearly.

English language and ease of understanding

Back in the 1960s when I was a school boy I used to read newspapers such as THE HINDU, THE INDIAN EXPRESS and the eveninger MAIL with interest. One main reason for this was the simple and at the same time, impeccable language used in these. (I used to get immersed in cricket news covered by J H Fingleton about county cricket which featured Indian players such as Raman Subba Row).

Of course I also liked reading newspapers and magazines such as Swadesha Mithran (Tamil), Kalai Kadhir (I have never found any Tamil language Science and Technology magazine comparable to this excellent magazine), Dharma Yug (Hindi) etc.

Kalai Kadhir



Dharma Yug

As years go by, it is logical that languages undergo metamorphosis, which fact is very evident if we compare how a language gets used in different periods of time. When I was a school boy, idiomatic English was very much in use. But it is outdated now. When simple straightforward words and phrases are available, there is actually no need to use idiom filled phrases any time.

This morning’s editorial in THE HINDU reinforced my view that standard of English in the newspaper is never like it used be many years back.

As an example, I have listed a few sentences from the editorial and rewritten them in a simpler manner in brackets as follows:

• After a prolonged period of weak initiatives in higher education that stunted enrolment in the university system, India now has the opportunity to speed up remedial action during the Twelfth Plan.

(After several years of lethargy in taking initiatives in higher education leading to stunted enrolment in the unieversity system, India’s Twelfth Plan paves the way for speedy remedial action).

• Evidently, even if the target is achieved, the absolute number of young Indians able to get a recognised higher education degree will remain well below the level a knowledge economy needs.

(Evidently, even if the target is acheived, actual number of young Indians who will graduate with higher education degrees will be far below what knowledge economy needs).

• It is imperative that the Centre makes access, quality improvement and affordability the basic tenets of policy.

(It is imperative the Centre considers affordability, access and quality improvement in higher education as basic tenets in policy making).

• The idea of opening up the physical infrastructure of universities and colleges to start whole new batches of degrees and diplomas late in the evening has been the low hanging fruit in the area of wider access for many years.

I don’t really understant what the above sentence means.

I think that the basic objective of any language medium is to use language which is non-idiomatic, situationally and contextually relevant and simple enough for the reader to  understand. For example, I don't think that `Warm greetings' would be very pleasant in a city like Chennai where the weather is already very warm.

In our digital day to day living in which time controls us instead of the other way round, our language should be economic wherever possible. For example, isn't  "She took two minutes to run the distance"  more economical and easier than "She took a couple of minutes to run the distance"?  Linguistic economics can help us to conserve energy.

Contrary to popular belief, fluency in English (or any other language), is determined by clarity of expression and not by speed.

We can come across numerous youngsters who turn  away from reading English mainly because the material is not user friendly for the above mentioned reasons.  I think that our textbook publishers and multimedia developers should understand this basic fact.

My farewell to facebook

After much contemplation, I got my facebook account deleted this morning as I don't like spending time in viewing or reading any  material which is of no interest or relevance to me.

However my friends know that though I have left facebook, they can still communicate using conventional email, in which I am far more comfortable. 

Thanks.

Shree Mahaa Vishnu's avataars

Today is a very auspicious day in the Hindu calender. It was on this day that the Almighty Shree Mahaa Vishnu took one of His ten Avataars as Koorma (Divine tortoise) to protect the good from the evil. Yesterday was also a very auspicious day as this was the day on which He took avataar as Lord Narasimha.