The Midas touch

India chasing 387 in the fourth innings and winning is a rare sight. Especially with the way the team batted in the first innings with the top order batsmen lacking application. I think India won this match because they believed in themselves to go for a win. Dhoni though seems a laid back captain is very aggressive in his approach and that's where you need the aggression. You dont need to show your aggression in the press conferences and in the interviews. With due respect to Kumble I doubt whether we would have gone for the win straight away under his captaincy. I am a huge fan of Anil Kumble but I think there has been paradigm shift in the way India approaches the game of cricket under MS Dhoni. Earlier we would have thought of reaching a position from where you cant lose and then press the onus for winning. The way Sachin Tendulkar batted was a treat to watch. He has proved over and over again that he is a great cricketer. With Sachin at the crease the confidence of the team is very high and with Laxman the fifth day pitch seems a belter and batting looks so simple. Yuvraj Singh reminds me of David Gower not that they resemble in the way they bat. Both are classy players but you cant have more players like them in the team as they are not always reliable as they will give bowlers a chance but on their day they will be ruthless. The stage was perfectly set for Yuvraj to play his natural attacking cricket and he took a lot of pressure off sachin. Sachin scored yet another century in test cricket. One of his few century in the fourth innings. He scored 1000 runs in the calender year during this innings. This is the fifth time he has done so (the first Indian) along with Lara and Hayden. Sachin has played so many match winning knocks in the first innings but this one rates really high as it came in the second innings and the first ton in the second innings which India managed to win. Centuries at Chennai against Pakistan in 1999 and at perth against Austalia in 1992 came in losing cause. Few other centuries resulted in a draw. This is also the highest run chase in India making the win even more special. However it also needs to be said we put ourselves into trouble by batting poorly in the first innings. Dhoni should be the captain even after he retires.

SALIL CHOWDHARY- A GENIUS

A legend remembered. Tomorrow is Salil da's birthday.

Salil Chowdhury was unique, in a class by himself. Had he been alive,
tomorrow Salilda, would have turned 85. What made his music distinct? How did he go about projects?

HE WAS DIFFERENT...
Veteran musician Manohari Singh says, “harmonization, use of ‘jumping’
notes were important elements in his music. He knew well the trick of
combining notes! And he had a sound understanding of Western classical
music, a mastery in scoring background music. When the likes of Raj
Kapoor and BR Chopra needed unusual background music, they approached
Salilda.”
Let’s now meet Sabita Chowdhury. “I didn’t know what a choir meant
before meeting him at Suman’s Hall in Dadar, Bombay, during a
rehearsal of the Bombay Youth Choir in 1952. I was surprised to hear
one or two members sing the basic melody and some were singing the
same thing at a higher note... He was different from contemporary
composers in many ways ~ he was a musician, poet, lyricist, story
writer, arranger, singer, producer, director... He formed an
association for musicians in Bombay...”
Well-known guitarist Ramesh Iyer says, “Creating music was a fun
activity for him. When Dada started working for Hindi films, composers
liked his work! Dada gave birth to a new style, one that puts stress
on creative harmony. He explained techniques to blend different types
of music ~ like Bangla folk with Western classical. That was his style.”

WORKING WITH HIM...
“Salilda took me to Mumbai and helped me join Bollywood. My first
project with him was Paasher Baari and then on Madhumati’s background
score. He had in-depth knowledge of Indian folk music as well as
Western classical,” says Manohari Singh. As for Ramesh Iyer, he says,
“I worked in Plot No 5 and Chemmeen as a musician before I joined
Panchamda’s team. Since 1976 I had worked for Salilda all the time he
was active in creating music. Playing his tunes is a challenge.”

FOR THE MASSES?
“I don’t agree that he was not a mass composer. On one hand people
remember Zindagi Kaisi Hain Paheli, Kahin Door Jab and some remember the
peppy Jan-e-Man, Jan-e-Man. Dada had his style and enjoyed several
commercial hits ~ Madhumati, Anand, Chhoti Si Baat, Half Ticket and
Maya,” says one of Salilda’s close associates, lyricist Yogesh.
Sabita Chowdhury also has kinds words to share. “I consider him a
composer with class. How many people can sing his songs correctly?
Without a sense of music, it’s difficult to perform his songs. He
always dealt with quality tunes..”
As for Manohari Singh, he feels Salil Chowdhury had class but didn’t
turn his eye away from the actual viewers of Hindi cinema ~ the masses.
Salil Chowdhury had received awards from Filmfare, Sangeet Natak
Academy, Allauddin Smriti Puraskar, Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar and so on.
Nobody can forget his contribution to the music world. To most
musicians he would be remembered as a genius.

When the song of Half ticket was getting recorded- Aake seedhi lagi., Salil da told Kishore Kumar that it is not possible to record the song as Lata ji is not able to turn up for the recording and hence they have cancelled the recording. Kishore da said so what he will also sing the female parts. Salil da recorded the song with kishore da singing the male as well as the female parts of the song. Salil Chowdhary's music had a very bengali touch to it.

The above post is with inputs from www.statesman.com

India V Australia 1st test so far

India at Lunch on day 3 has lot of work to do. The Pitch is getting slower and slower and run making is really difficult. The bounce is not true. The wicket keepers have a really difficult time and their backs are going to take a toll.
Ricky Ponting and Micheal Hussey played outstanding test cricket and showed tremendous temperament and patience to reach a big first innings score. Ishant Sharma got two wickets with the help of slower balls in the form of Brad Haddin and Cameroon White. On this pitch varying the pace is very important as there is not much in the pitch to offer for the seam bowlers. Ponting has got a very interesting field setting with a short extra cover and short mid wicket as the ball is not coming on to the bat. Johnson has varied his pace nicely it and got the maestro Tendulkar playing an early shot. Sehwag was frustrated as runs had dried up and thats what happens when you see a wide half volley- the carrot ball you nick it to slips. The old ball is reversing and Mitchell Johnson will be a threat if he is more consistent with his line and length because of his slingy action.
Nine out of the Australian ten wickets were taken by fast bowlers with Harbhajan and Kumble taking 1 wicket in 43 odd overs.Australians have 4 decent fast bowlers. With 2 spinners in the team it becomes very important that we have enough runs to bowl at and that seems virtually impossible at this stage with Dravid back in the hut. Hence the first innings score was very important as batting second time against Kumble and Harbhajan will be rally difficult. Stuart Clark is a very dangerous bowler on this pitch with the ball keeping low as he bowls wicket to wicket and as the game progresses we will see more and more LBWs and Bowled.

Fine with Over stepping

Vekatesh Prasad- the bowling coach of the Indian Cricket Team has announced a fine for the Indian bowlers bowling no balls. Every bowler has a partner in the form of a batsman and every time a bowler oversteps he and his partner have to pay a fine of 50 dollars each. I guess the partner of Ishant sharma is Gautam Gambhir. I don't know the partners of other bowlers.

Only time will tell whether this fine will help in bringing down the no balls. Also the players have to be fine with the fine. I am not sure what happens with the 100 dollar so recovered.

Had the fine been imposed by West Indies in the 80's and 90's I wonder the batsmen will be fighting not to be partners with Curtly Ambrose and Partick Patterson.

Come Home Early

A Mail I received. Too good not to post.

Son: "Daddy, may I ask you a question"

Daddy: "Yeah sure, what it is?"

Son: "Dad, how much do you make an hour"

Daddy: "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?"

Son: "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?"

Daddy: "I make Rs 500 an hour"

"Oh", the little boy replied, with his head down.

Looking up, he said, "Dad, may I please borrow Rs. 300?"

The father was furious,"if the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or other nonsense, then march yourself to your room and go to bed. Think why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish behavior"

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions.

How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think:

"May be there was something he really needed to buy with that Rs. 300 and he really didn't ask for money very often!"

The man went to the door of little boy's room and opened the door.

"Are you asleep, son?" He asked.

"No daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy.

"I've been thinking, may be I was too hard on you earlier", said the man, "It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the Rs.300 you asked for"

The little boy sat straight up, smiling "oh thank you dad!" He yelled.

Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled some crippled up notes.

The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father.

"Why do you want money if you already had some?" the father grumbled.

"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied.

"Daddy I have Rs. 500 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?

Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you"

MORAL OF THE STORY

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life.
We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.
If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days.
But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.
And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family....

1/0 is not defined and 0/0 is indeterminate

1/0 is not defined and not infinity.

x divided by y means to make "y equal parts of x". Since it is not possible to make 0 parts of 1, 1/0 is not defined.

Proof goes like this
consider the series 1/(1/2) , 1/(1/3) , 1/(1/4) , ...................................
The denominator in the series becomes smaller and smaller and eventually will become zero. Thus eventually we will get a number1/0 in the series.
The series becomes 2 , 3 , 4 , ................................ Hence we can conclude 1/0 = infinity

consider the series 1/(-1/2) , 1/(-1/3) , 1/(-1/4) , ...................................
The denominator in the series will become zero. Thus eventually we will get a number1/0 in the series.
The series becomes -2 , -3 , -4 , ................................ Hence we can conclude 1/0 = -infinity

Hence we get 2 values of 1/0. We are not sure whether 1/o is infinity or -infinity.
Therefore 1/0 is not defined. Anything which doesn't make sense is not defined.

Proof 2
Let 1/0 = x .
Hence 0*x = 1. No value of x satisfies the equation. Hence x is not defined.
Therefore 1/x is not defined.

On the other hand consider 0/0
Let 0/0 = x.
Hence 0*x= 0. Any value of x satisfies the equation. Hence x cannot be determined.
Therefore 0/0 is indeterminate.

Note Indeterminate and not defined are not one and the same. Indeterminate means the solution can take any value. However not defined means the solution doesn't have any value.

So called Spirit

I hear lot of news channels and people saying terrorists cannot break the spirits of the people. People are back on track the next day be it after the train bomb blasts in Mumbai or the recent Delhi blasts. Is this spirit of the people or just that people are not concerned, self centered or they dont have an option but to get back on track.

The scene in the pics is the real spirit of people that actually hurts the terrorists and not the fact that people get back to work the next day. Actually when the terrorists see people get back to their routine the next day they are actually happy and feel that the people out there are not concerned at all.

I am blaming myself also for the things happening as I am not doing anything great to bring about a change. Yes I would love to be a part of solution rather than a part of problem and make an endavour to move from the problem side to solution side. You can say I am already moving. The more the gap between rich and poor the problems will multiply and we have done enough things to ensure this.I dont want to be a liability to the planet. I always pray to God to make best use of me.

Stop Terrorism

I was thinking how terrorism can be reduced if not stopped. I got the answer from Bawa. Bawa is an IITian and an art of living teacher. The following extract is taken from his blog where has posted this . His blog is awesome www.bawandinesh.name

Whenever, wherever they want, they plant the bombs and blow them off. Are we really helpless?

No. They do this because of lack of education. They do this because they think that a cause is more important than a human life. There are many ways that this can stop… here are some:

1. Many people have to go through the Art of Living training and learn to value life. I have had quite a few (muslim) students who have been approached by these terror outfits to join them and they have refused because they have this Knowledge… So go out of your way to bring Art of Living in people’s lives… You may prevent a person from becoming a terrorist!

2. When many, many people meditate on a very regular basis, then that increases the Satva in the environment. There have been studies and experiments done to prove this. A group of 10,000 people meditated in rotation for about a month in a city in the US, and the crime rate in that city dropped dramatically, “normal” crime dropped by 35% and violent crime between 38% and a staggering 85%. So if you have learned to meditate, see that you do it everyday!! You may just have a hand in preventing a bomb blast!

3. Organizations and governments need to drop their pseudo secular stance, by encouraging everyone to learn to meditate, do Sudarshan Kriya… Some classify Art of Living as “religious” or “Hindu” and they are doing so at the peril of the security and safety of our country and the world in general. Art of Living is a purely spiritual orgnization, has nothing to do with religion and will always stand up for whatever is right! If you are working in any organization, please see to it that you initiate and carry through the training of Art of Living wherever you work or study. This becomes mush easier if you excel at your chosen field. So exceling at work or studies becomes of paramount importance, because, then as far as society is concerned your words have weight… and you can use that to make people learn how to breathe :)… Who would have thought those good grades could help prevent a bomb blast huh?!

4. Everyone needs to develop the attitude that: The ONLY thing we will not tolerate is intolerance! It is intolerance, a non verifiable concept of God, a childish concept of an angry and vengeful God who will reward few people in the hereafter and punish everyone else… Everyone needs to realise that everyone and everything is God’s creation and He is not going to get any kick out of people killing each other in His name… We definitely follow one path, but we respect all… we learn from all.

5. We need learn to celebrate diversity and soak in the richness of diversity. Let go of the notion that everyone should be like me, that everyone should beileve in what i believe, that you are “good” only if you are on my “team”. We should wonder at the diversity there is and seek to preserve it. And at the same time realise that basically we are all part of a universal spirit first… gender, race, nationality, religion are all secondary and really not worth fighting about. The diversity there is has been created for our pleasure, and is not to be destroyed!

6. Look for the similarities in different belief systems and come together with those and then celebrate the differences… Most so called leaders have become arrogant and spend all their time in finding differences in what they believe and what others believe and then become very creative in finding ways to undermine, insult and destroy the other. These leaders really need to be dethroned, because they are a disgrace to the faith they represent and a blot on the humanness of humanity. All of us have to learn to understand that there are many ways to the Truth, and that Truth itself is multifaceted and beyond any logic. And we need leaders who will teach this to their flocks instead of the we are right, they are wrong.

7. Everyone has to vote! We all have to take responsibility about who we are choosing to govern our country on our behalf. The reason that the government and the politicians are doing minority appeasement, is because the vast majority doesn’t vote! So, until we have politicians who are really interested in the good of the country and who are ready to serve instead of rule, we citizens have to make our voices heard through our voting. The automatically, these power hungry people will be compelled to wield their power to serve the good of all, rather than appease the minority.

8. Whenever the media does an unfair or biased reporting about an event, we the people, should utterly flood their mail boxes and choke their telephone lines and tell them that we don’t appreciate such sensationalism in the news.

The biggest problem i think is that we don’t DO all these things that we know we should be doing. We ourselves are lazy, and we don’t want to move… and it’s always so very easy to become a victim and blame other people… All of us have it within us to stop this terror, if we only get up and start doing something about it, rather than just moaningand groaning and complaining about it…

So, breathe and meditate, get people to breathe and meditate, get people to get people to breathe and meditate, take responsibility for governance by voting and media by expressing outrage at sensationalism, involve more people into this process, educate lovingly and patiently, have zero tolerance for intolerance, stop complaints and being in victim consciousness, get up and take action.

Most importantly Pray. Prayer has the power to transform even the most rigid individual. But don’t get stuck only praying… prayer coupled with intelligent action can move the entire planet!

Sri Sri Ravishankar's closing remark in His speech at the Millennium Peace Summit at the UN in New York was: “I pray AND i take responsibility!”

ONAM

Onam is a festival celebrated mostly in the state of kerela in India. Basically Onam is a festival of malayalees. Onam is celebrated in honour of King Mahabali (king of asuras) who ruled kerela and that period is considered to be the best period for kerela. Mahabali was the grandson of Prahalad who was great devotee of lord Vishnu. Hence Mahabali was also a great devotee of Vishnu.

There was a war between the king of asuras and king of devas. In other words the war was between Mahabali and lord Indra and Mahabali did a special yagna to get some special weapons to fight the battle under the guidance of Guru for asuras shukracharya. With a great tussle Mahabali won the battle and defeated Indra. All the demigods were afraid because Mahabali had conquered the entire universe. Hence to avoid any problems in the future all the demigods approached Vishnu (the maintainer) to rescue them.

Mahabali made an announcement that he is ready to offer anything which a person wants from him. Mahabali itself means great sacrifices. Vishnu took an avatar of a brahmin boy and asked for bhiksha (alms) from Mahabali. Shukracharya knew that the boy was a special person and hence he advised Mahabali not to honour the promise. However Mahabali was stubborn and asked the boy what he wants. The boy said that he will take away the land which he covers with 3 steps. Mahabali agreed. The boy increased his size to a gigantic one and stepped on the earth. With the second step he covered the brahma lok(heaven). When he stepped in brahma lok, Brahma washed the feet of Vishnu and chanted the Purushasooktam. There was no place left for the boy to keep his 3rd step. Mahabali offered his head and asked the boy to keep his feet on his head and The boy pushed Mahabali in the patala and he became the king of patala. The avatar taken by Vishnu is known as vamana avatar.

However Mahabali was allowed to meet his subjects once in a year and that day is celebrated as Onam. Mahabali being a great devotee of Vishnu and having defeated the Indra was promised to become an Indra in a manvatara (the office of indra is a rotating one). In the next manvatara Mahabali is the Indra. Onam also marks the start of harvest season.

PS Manvatara is a very long period. It is defined in Rigveda. Will find out the exact mathematics of years and all

A story of Mentally challenged

This is a painting made by a deaf and dumb boy age 9.
Some days ago I happened to visit a school for deaf, dumb and mentally challenged. The name of the school is Astitva located at Dombivli (50 kms from Mumbai). I had no answer when I was thinking why are they deaf, dumb, mentally challenged and I am normal. The only answer came to my mind was fate. I didn't do anything correct to be born the way I am and they didn't do anything wrong to be born with deficiencies.

One thing that struck me was the teachers in the school doing such a wonderful job and selflessly trying to improve the students. The difference between these teachers and teachers who teach normal students is the same which you find between a bollywood singer and a classical singer. The best part is they are so well mannered and come and hug you and stand immediately when they see you. The grown up mentally challenged students (grown up in physical age) do some work so that they can be taken care of. The worst part is if they don't perform a particular activity for couple of days they forget how the job is to be done.So there needs to be a constant demand for the materials which they make otherwise the school will not be in a position to provide work to them.

I heard from one of the teachers the true story of this mentally challenged guy. This boy has a grand mother who was ill and admitted to the hospital. The operation required huge sums of money. By god's grace the family is well to do and hence there wasn't any financial problem. This boy knew that his grand mother is admitted in the hospital and wanted to perform the operation with the help of his money. He was doing the routine work which the school authorities provide to the students. Hence, he told the authorities that he has worked and should be given money. He doesn't know what is the worth of a rupee. He was overjoyed on receiving the one rupee from the school and when he went to visit his grand mother at the hospital he told the doctor take the money and perform my grandmother's operation. He till today feels his grandmother's operation was performed with his money.

Then I realized why are these people called retards? The boy gave away 100% of his income for the grandmother's operation. If he would have been a normal human being he would never have done it or at least thought before doing it. Decide for yourself who are retards.

PS Even in accountancy giver always get the credit. Remember the golden rule for personal account- Debit the receiver Credit the giver.

Calender

GIVEN A DATE,MONTH AND A YEAR; HOW TO FIND OUT THAT DAY?

Year +1/4th of year+ date + code of that month
(Year means only the last two digits of the year)
(in 1/4th of the year take only the integral part and not the decimals)

Eg: year is 1987 then take year=87
1/4th = 21



Codes Month
0 June
1 Sept and Dec
2 July and Apr
3 Jan and Oct
4 May
5 Aug
6 Feb,Mar and Nov

if the year falls between 1900 to 1999 deduct two, if the year falls btwn 2000-2099 deduct three, if the year falls between 1800 and 1899 no adjustment is required.
divide the result obtained in 1(after adjusting point no 3) by seven
note the remainder
if it is a leap year and the date is before 1st of March subtract one irrespective of the deductions mentioned in point number 3


Remainder Day
1 Sun
2 Mon
3 Tue
4 Wed
5 Thur
6 Fri
0 Sat


an Eg of the entire process:

suppose the date is 3-9-2008

Solution:

08(Year)+(1/4thof 8)+1(code of September)+3(Date)-3(Stated in point no 3)
=8+2(integral part )+1+3-3
=8+2+1+3-3
=11

when 11 is divided by 7 the remainder is 4 thus by referring to table we can say that the day is WEDNESDAY

PS Feel free to ask for any clarification. I will be more than happy to help.

R D Burman speaks about Kishore kumar

Today is the birthday of my friend Jeetu who happens to be a wonderful singer himself (one of my favorites). This post is dedicated to him. This is about my favorite singer and composer. Jeetu will definitely become a successful, reputed, famous singer soon.

Kishore and R.D.Burman (Pancham)

First Encounter
in R.D.'s own words...
"One day, sitting on a wall of the same studio, I saw a man wearing a muffler and cap and holding a black stick. He was imitating everyone who passed, just like a monkey. When we went into the studio the man jumped off the wall and came into the recording room. Jo jo gana gatey the unka satyanash karte hue woh khud gana gane lage. When I asked him why he was doing it he said: 'I am an orphan. Nobody looks after me. Please give me a chance'."

Amused at the recollection, R.D. gave a hearty laugh. The man on the wall was Kishore Kumar who, according to R.D., is the best male singer we have. "He is flexible. He can sing a classical song better than any of the others. I know because I've worked with all of them. He can sing a funny song or a sad song, nobody can beat him in versatility. He has never learnt any music but his ability to grasp is the secret of his success. He observes the music director and mimics.

Give him the tape
It was Pancham who generally carried S.D.Burman's (Pancham's father) spool-tape of the tune to Kishore's home. Pancham himself adopted the same technique in drawing the very best out of Kishore. S D Burman's technique was to send the spool-tape of the song to Kishore well in advance.

"There's no singer like Kishore," says Pancham, "if you send the tape of the song to him even two days before the recording. Kishore wants this tape in advance, because he doesn't just sing a song; he feels it; savours it; experiences it; before entering the music room to record it." "My best songs for Kishore," went on Pancham, "have been done this way."
"So strikingly different, in fact, was the result when I managed to send the tape to Kishore, two days in advance, that I could, here, offhand reel off the songs done this way, for me, by this my pet performer."
"I sent the tape of the tune beforehand to Kishore and he came up with O maanjhee re (in Khushboo); Zindagee ke safar mein (in Aap Ki Kasam); Raat kalee ek khwab mein aayee (in Budha Mil Gaya); Musafir hoon yaaron (in Parichay); Diye jalte hain (in Namak Haraam); and Meree bheegee bheegee see (in Anamika)."
"Plus, in my breakthrough film, Hare Rama Hare Krishna -- as a composer with a style all my own -- Kishore came up, so notably, with Dekho o deewanon."
"This without mentioning Kishore's artistry in my other two breakthrough films: Amar Prem and Kati Patang," added Pancham.
"In fact, it was with these two films that I truly discerned how much sending the tape, in advance, to Kishore meant -- as he gave matchless results in such songs of mine as Yeh kya hua and Kuchch to log kahege; Yeh jo mohabbat hai and Pyaar deewana hota hai, not forgetting Yeh shaam mastanee."

PS This is from an interview by Mr Vijay Akela, taken in Filmfare.

1 = 0.99999...............

This is very interesting. Many of us know it.
1=0.9999...........
Don't worry. Everything is right about it.

For example 1/3 = 0.333333...........
ie 3 * 0.333333...... = 1 (if x/y = z, then yz = x)
ie 0.99999........ = 1 (since 3*0.3333..... = 0.9999........)

The proof goes like this
let x= 0.9999........
hence 10x = 9.9999........ (multiplying both sides by 10)
subtracting the two equations we get,
10x - x = 9.9999........ - 0.9999.........
ie 9x = 9
ie x = 1
ie 0.9999....... = 1 ( as x = 0.9999.... & x = 1)
Hence proved

PS Dont try to find any mistake in the proof because there isn't any.
Please let me know if you are interested in such posts.

Education

What have we taken from education?

I am not writing the obvious things which we have got from education. The problem is I happen to see a lot of people who are termed as educated in the society but are no more than literates. The difference between literates and educated to my mind is awareness. Getting a degree ensures that you are literate. However when that literate becomes socially responsible and aware you become educated.

According to me, a graduate who litters is literate and not educated. I have seen people doing many non sense things like the one mentioned and are termed as educated by the society.

Education has given unnecessary tolerance and ignorance. How?
In a particular year there are 8 subjects and I like 3 subjects but still i need to learn the other 5 as well to clear the exam and unless you clear the exam you are assumed not to be competent in the three subjects which I like. What am I doing? I am tolerating the five subjects. When you tolerate and continue doing it a stage comes when you ignore it. In real life also we tolerate so many things and claim that we have actually accepted. This is again ignoring the difference between tolerance and acceptance. Take the example of powercuts.

Education has made us selfish. How?
In the schools we are told by teachers help others. When I actually help a student sitting next to me , he scores more than me and our system gives more importance to the progress cards than values.When I look at the progress card I say "hang on I don't get any rewards by helping others." There is no benefit in helping others and this feeling is more intense as you move higher in education ladder. One can be good by doing hard work but to be better one has to pull others down. This is what is learnt during education career and it is continued when that person goes for a job. In early 1900's people used to get educated for knowledge. Today most of the people take education to do a job. In other words the primary purpose of education is to earn and learning is ancillary.

Earn a lot !!!

Earn large sums of money ethically and become socially responsible citizen. I guess people will be very interested in this post as this connects with most people. They can take pride in earning money as they are doing a job of saving the world from terrorists. People will wonder how.

If everyone starts earning more than what they are earning at this point of time, the total amount of wealth in the planet remaining fairly constant (inelastic as we call in economics), more wealth with good people means less money at the disposal of the terrorists. So the terrorists get less amount to fund their projects. Eventually the terrorists activities will reduce. Any business runs with the help of finance and terrorism is no exception.

So next time people call you materialistic be happy that you are making a contribution towards the society.

Happy birthday Kishore da

Today is the 79th birth anniversary of one of the most prolific singers India has ever produced. Kishore kumar was born on 4th august 1929 as Abhas kumar Ganguly in khandwa (Madhya pradesh)

Kishore kumar was introduced in the film industry by his elder brother Ashok kumar (dada muni). Ashok kumar was already an established actor in bollywood and wanted kishore kumar who was younger to him by 19 years to follow his foot steps and become an actor. However Kishore kumar was never interested in acting. If it wouldn't have been for Ashok kumar, Kishore da wouldn't have become an actor at all. Kishore Kumar always wanted to be a singer. His singing talents were first recognised by S D Burman and he got his first break from Khemchand Prakash. Kishore da used to act in films because that was an era when actors used to sing their own songs. He purposely used to act in an insane manner so that the producer will not sign him for the next film and he will only have to sing in films. Little did he know at that time he will become the first comic hero of bollywood. Kishore kumar went on to act in 98 hindi films and 5 bengali films.

Kishore da was a multi faceted personality. He had four wives. He got married to Ruma Devi from whom he has a son (Amit Kumar). O P Nayar saab gave Amit Kumar the biggest compliment he could have ever heard. O P said ''No doubt your father is a great singer but he doesnt have the gamak(Grace) that you have". After divorcing his first wife he married Madhubala in spite of knowing that she has health problems. He got converted into a Muslim to marry Madhubala. After the death of Madhubala he married Yogita Bali, who also got separated. Yogita Bali went on to marry Mithun Chakravarty. Kishore kumar stopped playing back for Mithun da.Then he married Leena Chandavarkar from whom he has a son( Sumit Kumar) who has sung in films like Deewangee( Ajay Devgan got the filmfare for the best actor in a villainous role), Naach( Abhishek Bachchan, Antra Mali, Riteish Deshmukh starrer)and Bachna aye haseeno. Kishore Kumar called his wives Bandariya as they all lived in Bandra. Kishore used to talk to plants in his free time.

Kishore Kumar never sat for rehearsals with any music directors. He agreed to rehearse with Ravindra Jain as he was moved by his compositions. Only non Rabindra Jain song for which he agreed to rehearse is ghungroo ki tarah bajta hi raha hoon main. Rafi saab used to say "No matter how much I practise this tiger Kishore will beat me". This shows the greatness of Rafi saab. Kishore da practised the song main shayar badnaam only 3 times before he actually recorded it in 1 take.

Kishore had a great base voice and could sing any song with same class and grace. The emotions of the song were understood by him to perfection. His voice perfectly suited Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand and Amitabh Bachchan among other actors.He was about to leave Hindi film industry and go back to Khandwa in 1968 just before Aradhana was about to be made. R D said wait for this film to release S D Burman is working on some great compositions. S D Burman composed the songs and then due to health problems couldn't continue with Music arrangements. R D Burman arranged the songs. Only the song Kora Kagaz tha ye mann mera was recorded by Kishore da and all other songs were recorded in Rafi saab's voice. R D Burman re recorded Roop Tera Mastana and Mere sapnon ki rani in Kishore da's voice and he got the first of his 8 FilmFare awards for Roop Tera Mastana. Had he left Bollywood that time we would have lost some of the beautiful songs like Chingari Koi Bhadke which is a Bhairavi Raga based song only Kishore da can sing with such emotions. Yaadon ki Baraat, Tum Agaye ho, Tere Bina Zindagi, Is mod se jaate hain, Humein tumse pyar, sagar kinare & many more.

The best part of Kishore da songs is Madhuban mein Radhika is a typical Rafi saab + Naushad saab song
Mera saaya is a typical Lata ji + Madan Mohan ji song
Deewana hua baadal is a typical Rafi saab + O P Nayar song
All songs of Kishore da are Kishore Kumar songs. Listen to Aa chal ke tujhe you will understand what a great lyricist he was! We admire a lot of harkats in singing that we forget the fact that straight notes are not easy but they are effective in communicating to the listeners. Ask any of the upcoming singers who understand music how difficult are the straight notes of Om Shanti Om from Karz. Many people feel that Kishore da could not sing Pure Classical songs, I suggest them to listen to Mere Naina Saawan bhado ( a semi classical number), Payalwali dekhna(composition by Chiragupt ji), Amar deep nibhano raat( a Bengali classical number). Hearing to Amar deep seems to be hearing to a classical singer like Manna da. Listen to the falseto to the normal voice modulation in the song Na koi dil mein samay from Aa gale lag jaa. Especially the Antra of the song is mind blowing. The Bengali version of the song is sung by R D Burman from which Kishore da learnt. This proves the mettle of Kishore da as a versatile singer.

Kishore da has been an inspiration to many singers like Kumar sanu, Abhijeet, Shaan and many more. This is a small tribute from one of his million fans to the one and only Kishore da on his brithday.

Kishore da will always be alive among us through his voice.

Inspirational

Naga Naresh Karutura has just passed out of IIT Madras in Computer Science and has joined Google in Bangalore.
You may ask, what's so special about this 21-year-old when there are hundreds of students passing out from various IITs and joining big companies like Google?
Naresh is special. His parents are illiterate. He has no legs and moves around in his powered wheel chair. (In fact, when I could not locate his lab, he told me over the mobile phone, 'I will come and pick you up'. And in no time, he was there to guide me)
Ever smiling, optimistic and full of spirit; that is Naresh. He says, "God has always been planning things for me. That is why I feel I am lucky."
Read why Naresh feels he is lucky.
Childhood in a village
I spent the first seven years of my life in Teeparru, a small village in Andhra Pradesh, on the banks of the river Godavari. My father Prasad was a lorry driver and my mother Kumari, a house wife. Though they were illiterate, my parents instilled in me and my elder sister (Sirisha) the importance of studying.
Looking back, one thing that surprises me now is the way my father taught me when I was in the 1st and 2nd standards. My father would ask me questions from the text book, and I would answer them. At that time, I didn't know he could not read or write but to make me happy, he helped me in my studies!
Another memory that doesn't go away is the floods in the village and how I was carried on top of a buffalo by my uncle. I also remember plucking fruits from a tree that was full of thorns.
I used to be very naughty, running around and playing all the time with my friends. I used to get a lot of scolding for disturbing the elders who slept in the afternoon. The moment they started scolding, I would run away to the fields!
I also remember finishing my school work fast in class and sleeping on the teacher's lap!
January 11, 1993, the fateful day
On the January 11, 1993 when we had the sankranti holidays, my mother took my sister and me to a nearby village for a family function. From there we were to go with our grandmother to our native place. But my grandmother did not come there. As there were no buses that day, my mother took a lift in my father's friend's lorry. As there were many people in the lorry, he made me sit next to him, close to the door.
It was my fault; I fiddled with the door latch and it opened wide throwing me out. As I fell, my legs got cut by the iron rods protruding from the lorry. Nothing happened to me except scratches on my legs.
The accident had happened just in front of a big private hospital but they refused to treat me saying it was an accident case. Then a police constable who was passing by took us to a government hospital.
First I underwent an operation as my small intestine got twisted. The doctors also bandaged my legs. I was there for a week. When the doctors found that gangrene had developed and it had reached up to my knees, they asked my father to take me to a district hospital. There, the doctors scolded my parents a lot for neglecting the wounds and allowing the gangrene to develop. But what could my ignorant parents do?
In no time, both my legs were amputated up to the hips.
I remember waking up and asking my mother, where are my legs? I also remember that my mother cried when I asked the question. I was in the hospital for three months.
Life without legs
I don't think my life changed dramatically after I lost both my legs. Because all at home were doting on me, I was enjoying all the attention rather than pitying myself. I was happy that I got a lot of fruits and biscuits. The day I reached my village, my house was flooded with curious people; all of them wanted to know how a boy without legs looked. But I was not bothered; I was happy to see so many of them coming to see me, especially my friends!
All my friends saw to it that I was part of all the games they played; they carried me everywhere.
God's hand
I believe in God. I believe in destiny. I feel he plans everything for you. If not for the accident, we would not have moved from the village to Tanuku, a town. There I joined a missionary school, and my father built a house next to the school. Till the tenth standard, I studied in that school.
If I had continued in Teeparu, I may not have studied after the 10th. I may have started working as a farmer or someone like that after my studies. I am sure God had other plans for me.
My sister, my friend
When the school was about to reopen, my parents moved from Teeparu to Tanuku, a town, and admitted both of us in a Missionary school. They decided to put my sister also in the same class though she is two years older. They thought she could take care of me if both of us were in the same class. My sister never complained.
She would be there for everything. Many of my friends used to tell me, you are so lucky to have such a loving sister. There are many who do not care for their siblings.
She carried me in the school for a few years and after a while, my friends took over the task. When I got the tricycle, my sister used to push me around in the school.
My life, I would say, was normal, as everyone treated me like a normal kid. I never wallowed in self-pity. I was a happy boy and competed with others to be on top and the others also looked at me as a competitor.
Inspiration
I was inspired by two people when in school; my Maths teacher Pramod Lal who encouraged me to participate in various local talent tests, and a brilliant boy called Chowdhary, who was my senior.
When I came to know that he had joined Gowtham Junior College to prepare for IIT-JEE, it became my dream too. I was school first in 10th scoring 542/600.
Because I topped in the state exams, Gowtham Junior College waived the fee for me. Pramod Sir's recommendation also helped. The fee was around Rs 50,000 per year, which my parents could never afford.
Moving to a residential school
Living in a residential school was a big change for me because till then my life centred around home and school and I had my parents and sister to take care of all my needs. It was the first time that I was interacting with society. It took one year for me to adjust to the new life.
There, my inspiration was a boy called K K S Bhaskar who was in the top 10 in IIT-JEE exams. He used to come to our school to encourage us. Though my parents didn't know anything about Gowtham Junior School or IIT, they always saw to it that I was encouraged in whatever I wanted to do. If the results were good, they would praise me to the skies and if bad, they would try to see something good in that. They did not want me to feel bad.
They are such wonderful supportive parents.
Life at IIT- Madras
Though my overall rank in the IIT-JEE was not that great (992), I was 4th in the physically handicapped category. So, I joined IIT, Madras to study Computer Science.
Here, my role model was Karthik who was also my senior in school. I looked up to him during my years at IIT- Madras.
He had asked for attached bathrooms for those with special needs before I came here itself. So, when I came here, the room had attached bath. He used to help me and guide me a lot when I was here.
I evolved as a person in these four years, both academically and personally. It has been a great experience studying here. The people I was interacting with were so brilliant that I felt privileged to sit along with them in the class. Just by speaking to my lab mates, I gained a lot.

Words are inadequate to express my gratitude to Prof Pandurangan and all my lab mates; all were simply great. I was sent to Boston along with four others for our internship by Prof Pandurangan. It was a great experience. Joining Google R&D I did not want to pursue PhD as I wanted my parents to take rest now. Morgan Stanley selected me first but I preferred Google because I wanted to work in pure computer science, algorithms and game theory. I am lucky Do you know why I say I am lucky? I get help from total strangers without me asking for it. Once after my second year at IIT, I with some of my friends was travelling in a train for a conference. We met a kind gentleman called Sundar in the train, and he has been taking care of my hostel fees from then on. I have to mention about Jaipur foot. I had Jaipur foot when I was in 3rd standard. After two years, I stopped using them. As I had almost no stems on my legs, it was very tough to tie them to the body. I found walking with Jaipur foot very, very slow. Sitting also was a problem. I found my tricycle faster because I am one guy who wants to do things faster. One great thing about the hospital is, they don't think their role ends by just fixing the Jaipur foot; they arrange for livelihood for all. They asked me what help I needed from them. I told them at that time, if I got into an IIT, I needed financial help from them. So, from the day I joined IIT, Madras, my fees were taken care of by them. So, my education at the IIT was never a burden on my parents and they could take care of my sister's Nursing studies. Surprise awaited me at IIT After my first year, when I went home, two things happened here at the Institute without my knowledge. I got a letter from my department that they had arranged a lift and ramps at the department for me. It also said that if I came a bit early and checked whether it met with my requirements, it would be good. Second surprise was, the Dean, Prof Idichandy and the Students General Secretary, Prasad had located a place that sold powered wheel chairs. The cost was Rs 55,000. What they did was, they did not buy the wheel chair; they gave me the money so that the wheel chair belonged to me and not the institute. My life changed after that. I felt free and independent. That's why I say I am lucky. God has planned things for me and takes care of me at every step. The world is full of good people I also feel if you are motivated and show some initiative, people around you will always help you. I also feel there are more good people in society than bad ones. I want all those who read this to feel that if Naresh can achieve something in life, you can too.

PS I am thankful to Jyothi for her contribution. Its acctually her post under my name

why 108?

We chant a lot of mantras 108 times. What is the significance of this number?

There are nine planets ( traditionally) and these nine planets move around 12 constellations. Hence each count for each planetary movement.Thus each time the mantra is chanted the bad effects( if any ) of that planetary movement is nullified and good effects are multiplied.

The logic is 12 into 9 = 108!!!

Please don't ask me why 1008? I don't know.

Respect the Terrorists

I am in no way supporting what the terrorists do. They are absolutely wrong in what they are up to.

I have lot of respect for the terrorists. Before you conclude anything let me make myself clear. There are many things to learn for us from them.The planning which goes in when they decide to attack a particular place, the execution is perfect. No body says ''sorry I cant plant an explosive I have some commitments, I am unwell, etc.

If we can bring the same level of commitment and dedication we can make wonders. Also they show us the right path at the cost of their lives.How do they show us the right path?Everybody knows they are on the wrong path. Hence we know we are not on the wrong path, ie we are on the right path. They exist and hence we are differentiated as peaceful people. Without terrorists people will not understand the importance of people like us who like peace in the same way that rich people exist because there are people who are poor.

Happiness

Happiness doesn't depend upon the situation but on the state of mind of the individual. Even in happy times we will be sad or stressed, in difficult times also we can be happy. Let me give an example-

People often throw a party. The host is never happy because he has to think how many people are coming, are the arrangements proper, have I invited all the important people,etc. In other words the atmosphere is of happiness but the host is unhappy.

Similarly think of the floods situation, the NGO people who provide aid are very happy to be in the flooded areas so that they can reach the people and provide help to them. Even in those difficult situations the volunteers are happy who help the victims.

Even in difficult situations, if you are serving others you are happy. Be happy serve others.
Service to mankind is Service to God

Sacrifice

I was thinking for few days Does sacrifice actually happen? As far as I am concerned sacrifice rarely exist. Being a Chess player, it was always a big deal if a player sacrificed one of his pieces. However, all the players sacrificed their piece to gain an advantage and eventually win. I have not come across a single sacrifice in a chess game with an intention to lose ( of course you do lose if the sacrifice goes hay wire).

According to me sacrifice is only from people's point of view. The person who actually is sacrificing does it because he is indifferent about that particular thing which he sacrifices. For Example the people who leave all the materialistic things and do philanthropic work. It is a sacrifice for all others but may not be for the person who actually did it. May be that person was never interested in materialistic things and wanted to involve himself in philanthropy. How can this be a sacrifice for him?

Sacrifice can only happen of the things which are near to you and you love them to the core. I cannot say I sacrificed playing Golf for my career because I was never passionate about golf. I think sacrifice is a very loosely used word. Its a kind of short term pain for long term gain. For me giving up something for your own benefit is not sacrifice. However when the same thing is given up for society's, people's benefit, its sacrifice in true sense.

Passion

People have passion of any thing and every thing. I have seen people crazy for cars,songs (a particular genre). I always felt I lack the passion like what many people have for a particular thing that they get engrossed and forget the world around them. It was only off late I realized that to increase the horizon of knowledge one needs to be dispassionate. Passion doesn't take us anywhere instead makes us stuck into a particular thing. We lose on so many things around us because of passion.

Whenever there is abundance there is dispassion
Whenever there is dispassion everything comes in abundance.

So be happy next time when you think you lack the passion which xyz person has.

Kishore Kumar da - My Favourite singer

Kishore da is one of the greatest bollywood singer our country has ever seen. He was a singer,actor,music director,lyricist,director,producer,etc.......... He had a great strong voice beautiful voice modulations which suited any actor he sang as a playback singer.He was not a trained singer but followed K L Saigal and modeled his style of singing similar to Saigal saab. He is one of the members of sixty most influential Indians. Who can ever forget the yodeling in songs like zindagi ek safar hain suhana, main hoon jhum jhum jhum jhum jhumroo. Kishore da used to call it as a gala tod kaam (breaking your voice).

Some facts about his songs
1 Mere naina saawan bhaado (R D Burman , Movie : Mehbooba)
Burman da asked kishore da to sing this semi classical song. Kishore da refused to sing asking RD to record the song from the legendery Lata ji.Lata mangeshkar obliged. After recording the song, R D Burman told kishore da ye shivranjani raag hain (this song is based on a raag named shivranjani).Kishore da replied raag ki aisi ki taisi(do hell with the raag) "Give me a cassette I will by heart the song". He practised the song for a week and everyone knows how big a hit the song is.

2 O majhi re (R D Burman, Movie : Kushboo)
The feel of the song is unmatched. When this song was being recorded, R D burman was crying and beating his hand on the wall with the disbelief how can kishore da sing with so much emotions

3 Humein tumse pyar kitna (R D Burman, Movie : Kudrat)
This song was first recorded in kishore kumar's voice. R D requested Lata ji to record the female version of the song. On hearing the song she said there cant be a better rendition of the song than the one sung by kishore da, only thing that can be done is this song can be made different.Hence the female version sung by Parveen Sultana is a classical based.

4 Aake seedhi lagi (Salil Chaudhary Movie : Half Ticket)
When kishore da arrived for the recording of this song, Salil da said Lata ji is not coming so we have to cancel the recording. Kishore da said doesnt matter i will sing the female parts of the song also. Salil da thought kishore da was kidding but kishore da meant business. When Salil da heard him sing the female part, he immediately recorded the song

KISHORE ... FONDLY REMEMBERED

NAUSHAD ALI
There was always a special place in my heart for Kishore, for whenever we met, he used to tell me, "I have but one corn. plaint against you, I have sung only once under your baton, so please do compose a song for me. Today he is no longer with us: I feel sad that I was unable to fulfill his desire.

KHAYYAM
Indian playback singing has been deprived of a powerful voice.

LAXMIKANT
Indian playback singing has lost one of its foremost entertainers.

ASHA BHONSLE
The film industry has lost its heart and soul. In fact, it was only a day before his untimely death that we had worked to, get her for a song. It was a seven hour session that I shall never be able to forget

RAVINDRA JAIN
A giant has passed away, and the last song he recorded was also ominous, 'Yeh jeevan hai sukh dukh - ka sangam, dukh ziyada, aur sukh kam'.

HEMANT KUMAR
We shall all miss him very much

ANU MALIK
I can't think of words to describe this grievous loss to the world of music. I am deeply shocked and hurt. Under my baton, Kishore-da and Manmohan Desaiji had come together once again, Kishore-da had sung for Manmohanji for his films 'Toofan'. and' Ganga Jamuna Saraswati'_ Though we will miss him, memories for him will linger forever through his voice and films.

KALYANJI-ANANDJI
The shock is too sudden and too deep to even react to it. We are numbed by Kishore's death.

KAVITA KRISHNAMURTY SUBRAMANIAN
It's difficult to believe that Life is now dead.

USHA KHANNA
I am not speaking for myself alone, the entire music community and the film world will miss Kishore Kumar.

MOHAMMED AZIZ
Though I have modelled my voice on Mohammed Rafi sahab, I have always had a deep rooted admiration for Kishore Sahab. He was like a father figure to all of us newcomers, and lent a helping hand to all of us.


PS It will be too big a post if I continue writing about my favorite kishore da- Guru

Law of Averages

Before I begin just in case you are wondering what is law of averages - According to this simple law a streak of good things is soon to get converted into a bad encounter and vice versa.

I was just thinking today how much the law of averages apply in real life. I know this simple law for some long time now. Every time I think of the Australian Cricket Team losing a cricket match observing that it has won for quite a long time, it never loses (I know off late India has beaten them is ODI series finals)

There are instances where I have thought of Federer losing a Tennis match due to the application of this law, he has in fact lost.However the law of averages do prove their existence once in a blue moon.

To be frank I have experienced the law of averages quite a few times in my short span of life.The fact remains I believe in the law.I think the law applies to me because I believe in it and it doesn't happen to Australian Cricket Team,Federer,etc may be because they don't believe in the law

The belief is what makes the thing happen.