Thursday, December 30, 2004

Ramayan

Was reading Kishore's Changi Sree Ramar Temple - Donate Bricks - $11 each post.

The squirrel story has fascinated me ever since I saw the first squirrel sans stripes in the U.S. Further research on many US squirrel species, got me browsing pictures after pictures of uninteresting, bare backed squirrels. The striped squirrels, turns out are mostly from South India or Ceylon. So the fascination remains - Is this story part of the Valmiki Ramayana? If not when was it added? Was it simply a coincidental addition of an imaginative yet observant storyteller? More importantly how could he have known the existence of a different type of squirrel?

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Tsunami

The chilling tsunami warning with the understated line - THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF A TSUNAMI NEAR THE EPICENTER, posted at about 7:30 local time in India sits mocking us. As the questions of why it couldnt be prevented plague us, as we blame our politicians, the personnel in the TWC in the US, as we muse on columns about the what ifs, and as the television screens play the sorrow of that mother lamenting her lost children over and over, as we open our valets, as we debate on aid reaching the needy - life moves on remorseless elsewhere and as my friend Rishi said, I suppose, it should.

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Privacy

Manish blasts off a telling post on privacy and half the comments are about
where the posters can get the video. ha-ha-ha.

MS

Nice article - I was having some thoughts on representation of women in literature and was branching off to feminism when I read the news of M.S.Subbulakshmi's death. I was stunned to learn that the S stood for Shanmugavadivu - her mom's name. To me its a poignant reminder in many levels.

I cant remember the name of that RK Narayan short story!

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Music

Had the rare pleasure of listening to a wind quintet - orsolino wind quintet - this weekend. Perhaps I am finding more time - I am getting more cultural exposure here in Bangalore. I couldnt figure out if the horn player was actually muting the sound of the horn. It looked like he had his right hand almost inside the horn. I was equally fascinated by the flautist's foot work as he played the various pieces. Such a philistine I am.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Auto...

Two days ago I had to suffer the ignominy of getting continuously rejected by auto-rickshaw drivers. I walked all the way home soaking in the highly polluted air, after the hundredth auto driver that I flagged refused a ride. Adding insult to the injury was the way they reacted. The ones that were waiting simply went back to doing whatever they were doing be it chatting or staring at the roof without a slightest indication they actually heard what I said. The ones that slowed down simply sped past.

I have noticed this indolent, uncivil posture and look that I often get from various people whenever there is no immediate reprimand or reward involved. Is courtesy an emotion of luxury?