Feast for Thought

I am no women's lib advocate or activist, neither am I a fanatic feminist. I simply believe that in matters of home and house the husband (father) and the wife (mother) can and should seamlessly ease into the one another's role whenever the need arises. So I read with interest a very well-written piece in Deccan Herald "The Story so Far" , which was forwarded to me by several persons - a banking professional cousin, a mother of two, a dutiful daughter-in-law, an understanding daughter, and a patiently tolerant wife - all rolled into one, (of course!). The story depicts, very precisely, the typical urban household where the lady pursues a career and manages the home, with nil / half-hearted / reluctant / whole-hearted participation from her life partner (The degree of participation being directly proportional to her good luck). I quote this line from the article: "It will take time, possibly a few more generations, for the equation to get balanced". Here is t

In December 2007, "marking his 90th orbit of the sun" Sir Arthur expressed three wishes: to see some evidence of alien life, to see "us kick our current addiction to oil and adopt clean energy sources", and finally, peace in his adopted nation. Continued research on ET's and UFO's may find success sooner or later. Political sanity is the likely solution for Wish No 3. And for wish No 2? That will require a combination of continued research (into alternate, green energy sources), and exemplary political sanity (including wisdom and will) to reduce our addiction to 'black' fossil fuels. If only, as a visionary, he had given us an indication of things to come, just as he had predicted the use of geosynchronous orbit . RIP, Sir Arthur. The rest of us will live in hope, and try to live by the message of another environmental visionary Jacques Cousteau - "If we were logical, the future would be bleak indeed. But we are more than logical. We are hum

I had earlier posted The Power of Vishnu Sahasranamam . Since then I came across Prof Shivkumar Kalyanaraman's webpage , and he offers a stupendous variety of (carnatic) music resources. You can download Smt MS Subbalakshmi's Vishnu Sahasranamam here, and acknowledge Prof Shivkumar's efforts here . Salutations to the Supreme! 28 Aug 2012: Here are updates to some links above Prof Shivkumar Kalyanaraman's webpage is now  Shivkumar.org  and  Vishnu Sahasranamam  is  the link to the audio. Please acknowledge the efforts of this source as directed in  feedback .

By some coincidence, I came across perspectives on something related to Indian history, from three different sources - the regular morning paper, a quite unrelated Google search, and an e-mail forward. The Hindu newspaper carries an author's thoughts about whites versus natives, in The aboriginal butterfly . Just as external 'help' harms a pupa from becoming a perfectly beautiful winged creature, so also, white peoples' machinations on (Australian) natives (how they 'teach the ways of the fair-complexioned') have permanently harmed the locals, by breaking the 'rules of natural existence and adaptation'. An unrelated Net search brought me to Francois Gautier's work 'Rewriting Indian History' (you can read the complete book below too). Coming as this result did in the wake of the above newspaper article, I was struck anew by the blatant machinations of the whites here, at 'home'. Rewriting Indian History [Here's another p

Once upon a time - in a previous century, an earlier avatar, I found myself at Leh, on the Indus , enrolled for a (whitewater) river-rafting course. [Why whitewater? Learn about river rapids here ]. And another on the Ganges at Rishkesh , a year later. And very soon - "You are the first Indian woman to raft down the Brahmaputra !"..exclaimed a colleague. Not possible...arguable, I said. Who cared? There was the Brahmaputra, and there were the set of six rafts and a couple of kayaks, and all around me were the team of 21 Americans and 6 Air Force colleagues. The mission? A self-contained, 12-day, 110+ km, self-contained Indo-US whitewater expedition on the Brahmaputra from Tuting to Pasighat . Team leader JB had a motley crowd of first and old timers to shepherd around, so did his Indian counterpart Sqn Ldr TS. Me? Oh a 'veteran' with a 'vast' experience of 4 days on the Indus at Leh a summer ago, and another 4 days on the Ganges at Shivpuri as a warm up for

We are 'nomads', we move with our stuff every couple of years once marching orders reach us. Nature appreciators like me probably prefer this kind of campus life, mainly for the comfortable green ambience and the minimal traffic. And best of all are the winged creatures who make the huge banyan trees their home. Come 6 of the evening, you can hear their symphony at a decibel that blissfully drowns highway sounds - a different concert everyday at that! See what we will be 'carrying' from our front and backyards when we leave this place later this year... I invite you to help yourself too!

You can see this tree when you visit the Amaravathinagar Dam. Try naming the shades of green, do.

One minute is 60-seconds long, isn't it? Not any more...not since we let technology rule our world. Days seem short, years speed by. And more often than not, by habit, or as a convenient excuse we shamelessly say 'I don't have time', when we actually mean 'Quality time? What's that?' Why do we insist on fast-forwarding into the future? Taking our kids along (sometimes letting them lead us) as we hurtle headlong into next year, next decade? No one seems to talk of leisure, actual 'free time' is still consumed by the likes of the internet and the tv, and not by a good book, or by simply doing nothing while grey cells get a chance to refresh themselves. What is wrong with slowing down - so that we age at a graceful pace, and let our kids be just kids for a good number of years? Seen the Snoopy sequence titled 'How did one survive' ( pps )? Those are the kind of days that kids anywhere in the world need to remember, and not regret. Perhaps we

From majestic Aanas to domestic Poonas . Recollect the 1-Sep born Virgo-kittens ? To veterinarians and the animal-wise, the statistic may be hardly worthy of note - that the same domestic four-paw has deposited her next litter exactly 6 months after the earlier lot... The Cat-Adorer and the budding C-A (who is thrilled that this time it is his cupboard) have already marked 1-March vermillion in the calendar, and are purring, along with the proud mom-cat, over the Piscean future fish-eaters...