Feast for Thought

If you are a music buff and happen to be in Trivandrum till 13 Jan, perhaps you may think of attending concerts at the Swathi Sangeetholsavam.event. Venue: Kuthira Maliga, adjacent to Sree Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple. Dates: Jan 4 to Jan 13 Complete schedule Frankly, I am trying to keep superlatives under control, after attending the second day's concert by Prince Rama Varma, accompanied by  Sri S.Varadarajan (Violin),  Sri B.Harikumar (Mridangam), and  Dr S.Karthick (Ghatam) ,  were each expert artistes by themselves. It was easy to see "democracy" on stage, as the singer-prince put it, all the five artistes (including the tanpura player) displaying their individualism and their perfection as accompaniments.     (But why do members of the audience persist in applauding in between numbers?) The outdoor setting in the palace premises, with the stage probably directly below the room where Maharaja Swati Tirunal composed his ma...

Among the many folk arts of Kerala, tOlpAvakoothu (leather puppet play / ancient shadow puppetry)   is a ritualistic art form performed in specially made theatre (koothu madam) in front of temples. (see  Tol paava koothu - The shadow puppet theatre of Kerala ) Under the aegis of Kerala Folklore Akademi and Soorya Festival , we were fortunate to attend one such show. Watch this space for more! Kamba Ramayanam recital about to commence Pataabhishekam The master artiste KK Ramachandra Pulaver with the characters and props Seen behind the scenes Shadow play above the scenes :)

Complete the following: India is ............................. a: Incredible. b: Unforgettable, it stays with you c: Wherever you are d: all of the above. Right, here are a dozen pats on the back for choosing option 'd' as the answer. To me and to you, India is all this and much more; India is also a paradox. If you were to ask me, all I'd like to say is: these people knew what they were talking about when they wrote or spoke about India - see Quotes on India  and  In Praise of India However if you want something more than just several pats on the back, all you need to do is submit images for the India Is Global Photography Challenge .  If your image  conveys the essence of any of the above themes exceptionally well, your submission can get you - "All-expense paid trips to India Weekend Getaways all across India at Taj Hotels Digital Cameras Exposure in travel magazines such as Conde Nast Traveller India Special photography Workshop Pas...

Yesterday was the festival of lights.  Perhaps the festival of noise, smoke, wasted paper and wasted energy too. Deepavali.  Through my window, I heard enough the whole day.  Through the same window, I hear the "music" of brooms cleaning up after yesterday's excesses.  The sound of that music has just moved on, and yesterday's leftovers are out again, to create further leftovers.  This in a city where there is no place to dispose of solid waste intelligently.   They bought. They came. They celebrated.  They bought more, They celebrated further. They left, but didn't pack up. Then they came. They swept. They did their bit. All I can do is spare a thought for her and her colleagues, and hope for better attitudes and understanding next Diwali. God bless them... There is a lot to be said for "Moderation in everything. Everything in moderation", isn't there?  

With a TEDx edition happening in town, it was not difficult to get oneself a ticket (₹750 per session) to attend the event at the Trivandrum Technopark campus. The newbie organizers did a great job though they must have faced several hiccups. One cannot but like the  convenient and attendee-friendly format (18 minutes per speaker) that  TED events follow. Have a look at the list of visionaries / thinkers / speakers: Sabriye Tenberken of kanthari Mathew Jose of Paperman The one and only Sashi Kumar T.P. Sreenivasan, a former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations Bina Paul of India Foundation for the Arts G.Vijayaraghavan, a former CEO of Technopark. The bonus at TEDxTrivandrum, on 10 November, 2012, was a video featuring Mallika Sarabhai's Nov 2009 TED talk  (see Mallika Sarabhai: Dance to change the world ), and a brief rendition of instrumental music by a local amateur group. Here's what the group of passionate TED enthusiasts have ...

Transcript of the speech

The Inner Kora of Mt Kailash parikrama involves trekking for about 28 km. Not all the K-M yAtris attempt this parikrama. (This is simply a digital attempt, courtesy Google Earth) Closer view of Mt Kailash Schematic of the KM routes (Source: National Geographic Adventure magazine) Inner kora  Here's a description of the Inner Kora ( Source  Update: not available as of Jun 2014) "Inner Kora - Ganesh Ling / Atma Ling ... the last day of our yatra we go back to Astapad. We will next visit the base of Mt Kailash and touch the Lords feet. We will also visit a place called Saptarishi caves inside Kailash and later complete a parikrama of Nandi parvat. This segment of the yatra is also referred to as Inner Kora. We have to do this trek only on foot. This journey s extremely special. We get a changing darshan of the lord as we get closer and closer to him. Just the feeling that we are nearing the Lord generates a great energy in us. The experience of thi...