August 31, 2011

"plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"—"the more it changes, the more it's the same thing"

Funny thing about human nature---One always recognises a wrong committed by another and takes a righteous stance on it-and when the same person gets a chance, practises it with more precision (since there would ave been scientific developments in the interim.)
Americans are the worst because
1. Their entire philosophy is based on "is it good for America?"
2. They are the first to advocate change of governments because those govts are suppressing their peoples  and are murdering democracy.
3. They are the most powerful military nation currently.
4. There is no counterweight and it is unipolar world now.


Let us review a little history---

The Doctors' Trial (officially United States of America v. Karl Brandt, et al.) was the first of 12 trials for war crimes that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone in Nuremberg, Germany after the end of World War II. These trials were held before U.S. military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, but took place in the same rooms at the Palace of Justice. The trials are collectively known as the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials", formally the "Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals" (NMT).

Twenty of the 23 defendants were medical doctors (Brack, Rudolf Brandt, and Sievers being Nazi officials) and were accused of having been involved in Nazi human experimentation and mass murder under the the guise of euthanasia. Josef Mengele, one of the leading Nazi doctors, had evaded capture.

The judges in this case, heard before Military Tribunal I, were Walter B. Beals (presiding judge) from Washington, Harold L. Sebring from Florida, and Johnson T. Crawford from Oklahoma, with Victor C. Swearingen, a former special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, as an alternate judge. The Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution was Telford Taylor and the chief prosecutor James M. McHaney. The indictment was filed on October 25, 1946; the trial lasted from December 9 that year until August 20, 1947. Of the 23 defendants, seven were acquitted and seven received death sentences; the remainder received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment. --

qouted from WIKIPEDIA.




Quoted from  THE HINDU dated 31/08/2011 --International--page 15.

quis narro vos? (What say you?)
or
Quo vadis?

August 30, 2011

Happy Birthday Anna!

Many many happy returns of the day. May your prolific contributions to SH and sustainability continue to grow!!!!

August 24, 2011

Lessons from NRN: Shibhu's perspectives

The farewell ceremony to NRN was elaborate, absorbing and also instructive. Sharing some of the points here, as everyone can benefit from the secrets of this amazingly successful entrepreneur.

From Shibu's (the incoming CEO of Infosys) speech:

  • Shibu was the last founder of Infosys to join. He was offered a job at Infosys, not a 'foundership'. Even though Shibu was willing to come in as just that, NRN changed his mind and the minds of the other partners and  made him a founder-partner. NRN didn't take advantage of the situation and went by the merit of the situation
  • Shibhu would work hard to be prepared for reviews by NRN. If he were prepared for 8 out of 10 items that NRN had wanted done in an earlier review, NRN would inevitably start the new review with the 2 items not done. Eventually, NRN's advice to Shibhu: 'Get a diary'. Shibhu said it is the best advice he received ever and nothing substitutes for taking notes. Youngsters, please note
  • The night before UAT of their first big project, someone finds a cosmetic bug in a report (some text was incorrect). The assessment was that it couldn't be fixed in time for the UAT. NRN insists on calling the client decision maker (at a late hour of the day) and have him come in to see the bug. The person comes and dismisses it as inconsequential. The next day, the client tells his own team about the incident and says 'if this is the level of diligence of this team, you all need not bother with the UAT' or words to that effect. To Shibhu, it was a demonstration of the power of transparency on influencing clients positively.
  • Shibhu was given the responsibility of setting up the first network line to the US from Infy. NRN gave him a few 100,000$ and asked Shibhu to take care of it. The solution Shibhu came up with was unorthodox- NRN backed him on it.  What Shibhu did eventually formed the base of the Infosys network design. Give stretch targets and back your people to achieve them- the confidence you invest in them is enough to let them jump the gap
  • There were many occasions when NRN & family helped Shibhu and family through personal troubles, financial troubles and even gave them a temporary home. Mentoring at all levels.

More later...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY KRUPA!

August 22, 2011

raghav

Raghav reading the Sunday newspaper

For reasons I can't figure out, this post is not allowing me to embed the youtube video (like in Krupa's post about Adi's concert. So I am just putting the link here.

S.A.C.H.I.N!!

Barack Obama - "I don't know about cricket but still I watch cricket to see Sachin play..Not b'coz I love his play its b'coz I want to know the reason why my country's production goes down by 5 percent when he's in batting."

August 21, 2011

Aditya's first music recital

Aditya's class had their first recital today and here are the videos. Two requests to the readers:
1) Aditya was promised a reward based on unbiased rating by each blog reader of his performance compared to the class, so please provide comments.
2) Any one who knows tamil translate the songs?? (Nanna? Maadhav?)
Note: There was one other kid remote from New Jersey and there is a little lag from him, so wait a few seconds for the singers to get synced up for the group songs. Also, I failed to record the 4th kid's solo.


Recital - Practicing the Varasai


Solo Performance
 

Solos by others: followed by Aditya



Group Song 1: Karune Seivai ( Translation please )


Group Song 2

August 20, 2011

SRIKRISHNAJANMAASHTAMI

జీవనసంధ్యలో , జీవితయుగసంధిలో నిలుచున్నాను నేను.
రహదారులు, అడ్డదారులు,అడ్డమైనదారులు
అనేకమార్గాలు,పొంగిపొరలే సెలయేర్లు
దుర్భేద్యమైన దుర్గాల్లా కంటికికనిపిస్తున్నాయి
సర్వేంద్రియాలు కంపిస్తున్నాయి.

దిక్కుతోచక,దిశానిర్దేశం లేక
దిక్కులుపిక్కటిల్లేలా విలపించాను
విషాదగీతం ఆలపించాను
కనిపించిన రాయిరప్పకు,కనిపెంచిన మాతాపితలకు మొక్కాను.
శోకంలో వెక్కివెక్కాను.
తప్పిపోయిన శిశువులా
తప్పుచేసిన పశువులా
అండకోసం.క్షమకొసం వెదికాను,వేసారాను.
అలసిసొలసి సొమ్మసిల్లాను
కళ్ళు చెమ్మగిల్లాను.

గోలోకచారి గోపాలుడు గోచరించాడు
పాపప్రక్షాళన చేసి కటాక్షవీక్షణం అవధరించాడు.
తీక్షణత,క్షమత మేళవించాడు

నన్నిన్నాళ్ళు విస్మరించావు
ఆత్మశోకం భరించావు
ఈనాడు కన్నీళ్ళతో స్మరించావు
ఆత్మశొధనతో ఆత్మార్పణ కావించావు.

నీవు నిమేషమాత్రుడివి
నిమిత్తమాత్రుడివి
అహంతో గర్వించావు
సోహం మరిచావు.
మనస్సిద్ధి లేక కోపం, పాపం ,కామం వరించావు
చిత్తశుద్ధిలేని జపాలు,తపాలు,హోమాలు జ్వలించావు.
కోపంలో దూర్వాసుడిలా చలించావు
పాపంలో చార్వాకుడిలా చరించావు.
కానీ, వారి సాత్వికతను,తాత్వికతను విస్మరించావు

కొండంత వేలుపు కొండను నిలిపిన వేలితో
నావేలుపట్టి నడిపించాడు.
ఈ దారిన వెళ్ళు.ఇక నీమార్గం సన్మార్గం
అంగాంగానా గౌరాంగుడిలా సత్సంగం.
జీవితాన్ని ఆస్వాదించు ఆనందించు
కానీ నలుగురికి పంచు
మందిమేలు ముందుంచు

గాంధి సత్రంలో ప్రవచనాలు,బ్రతుకు నిర్వచనాలు లభిస్తాయి
భుజించి ఆకలిని జయించు.
అల్లాక్రీస్తూ చలివేంద్రంలో దైవవాణి జలదారలోదప్పితీర్చుకో.
మీరామాత,సక్కుబాయి,తెరేసామాయి,వివేకానంద
వటవృక్ష మహామహుల నీడలో సేదతీర్చుకో
బుద్ధిప్రకాశం
ఆత్మవికాసం
ఆత్మానందం నీసొంతం.

కళ్ళు తెరిచాను
ప్రపంచం నందనవనం
ముందున్నది నవజీవనం.
కలయా? నిజమా? వైష్ణవమాయా?
ఈ నిమేషం నవనవోన్మేషం.
ఈ మానుషం భగవదనుగ్రహం.

అయినా
బుద్ది: కర్మానుసారిణి
రానున్నది రాకమానదు
కానున్నది కాకమానదు.

కృష్ణా ! యదుభూషణా !

August 18, 2011

Half-life of my brain

I now know the half-life of my brain: 18 years. So in 36 years (my approx age), it has decayed completely to a lump of lead. How else would one explain this: I took about 10 minutes to mentally calculate the total of the numbers below and got it wrong. I invite family members to test their own brain half-lives...just calculate the total and keep track of the time you took for it and post that as a comment here, if you are interested enough. But the summing has to be row by row- you cannot go by summing the units place and then 10s place etc.  Tick tock tick tock!

18648
 4672
 3056
12400
 2390
 1524
   555
 2145
   684
   299
 3100
 2945
  285
  225
   60
   63
   48
 185

Fascinated--

Originally titled "Arachetilo Swargam" by his dad.

August 16, 2011

Kapish in trouble, capiche?

The other day, a pregnant monkey- a frequent visitor to the apartment, was found hurt by one of the residents. It was lying on the roof of the neighboring shed, unable to move. It had blood on its side and was sluggish.

Poonam and I talked to various wildlife rescue organizations in an attempt to get the monkey some help:

1. The Bannerghatta Wild Life Rescue and Rehabilitation Center
2. CUPA (Compassion Unlimited Plus Action), Bangalore
3. Blue Cross (we investigated the option and eliminated it as it was for domestic animals)
4. PFA (People for Animals) Bangalore

After a bit of a runaround, the PFA people sent a rescue team.

Uncle Shikari Shambu: In the meantime, the eccentric gentleman ('uncle') who lives below us took good care of the monkey. He fed him bananas and tried some water and even a rough blanket. The monkey took the banana and rejected the other two offerings.

When we told uncle that the rescue people were on the way, he confidently told us that hope was futile-  one of 2 fates awaited the monkey:

1. It is going to deliver the baby and die right on that roof in the next one hour.
2. Or, even if it did survive, the rescue people would take it and dump it by the roadside.

We were more hopeful, and an hour later, the chaps actually showed up. The rescue was tricky, as the light was low and monkey was belligerent.  It led them on a merry chase along the roof and then the ground, though it was injured.

The high drama was accompanied by other entertainment:

1. When I also climbed the parapet and was walking on the roof to get a better view, mother behaved as if I am a lone human who has landed on the Planet of the apes. Any moment, I can expect to be bitten fatally by the wayward simian.

2. Uncle assured the catchers that they need not struggle to catch the monkey...the monkey was his friend and would come to his call- he then proceeded to call loudly to the monkey by name "ANSHU, ANSHU! Keela waa amma" (Anshu, Anshu, please come down) several times. Obviously, 'Anshu' was not in a mood to respond.

ANSHU visible under the awning

The monkeys in the building enjoying the excitement

Anshu rescued by Somu and Binoy: All in a day's work


After numerous attempts, they managed to push it into a pen- job done. They informed us that what we thought was a female pregnant monkey was actually an obese male! So much for delivering a baby and dying.

Overall, the rescue was fairly quick-and timely, as the monkey had a broken hand and leg. Uncle was also pleased that things worked out and attributed it all to "the blessings of the golden child of the building (Raghav)" :-)

Fat fried Fat

Can it get any fatter than this? Deep Fried Butter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 15, 2011

Dr CS passed away

Dr Sankara Sastry, a family friend and the first MBBS doctor in the town passed away in USA on the 10th of this month. He was our tenant in the house next door (now next to SRN's new house) till he built his house. He was a good, kind and honest doctor. I and Gouri miss him very much. May his soul rest in peace.

Like Father, Like Son

Cheema Muddi! Seenu also used to sleep like that.

August 14, 2011

Budha Siva vratham

In the present day nuclear family setup losing a wife is a very big blow to a man. Even If the husband passes off ,a wife can well manage the family and children ofcourse with some difficulty since the bread winner is lost.(not always as women are also earning)But not so in the case of man.So it is high time that husbands do the above said vratham and pray for the welll being of THEIR EARNING ,WORKING and CARING WIVES. Interested people can contact me forVRATHAVIDHANAM.
ps.The kids may not be aware ,so for their information women perform MANGALA GOWRI VRATHAM for the welfare of husbands

HBD

Happy Birthday Vissappa!

August 12, 2011

crop holiday

Crop holiday

“Madam, I want one day leave “said servant maid to Mrs. Arthur Cotton, the great engineer, while they were at Rajahmundry.”Why?” asked madam.” Want to go to santha tomorrow and sell away my child “.That was the pathetic condition of people of Godavari districts those days. Sir Arthur Cotton started in 1847 and completed the Davaleswaram anicut (dam) in 1852. Godavari districts prospered, earning the name of granary of Andhra Pradesh (may be of South India).People invoke the name of Cotton in their daily sankalpam in sandhyavandanam.

What is the situation today? in the picturesque Konaseema area(Vedic pundits from this area are the best in India)out of 2lakh acres of land 1.8 lakh acres of land is left fallow this kharif.Other areas in the district follow the same. What forced the progressive thinking, hard working ryots to go for such an extraordinary step of declaring a crop holiday? Agriculture is like breathing to them. It is like mother going on strike and refusing to cook or bring up children. Let alone getting minimum support price which itself is very low, there were no buyers for the paddy produced last year. The paddy is still lying in fields without any protection from rains.governement has not reacted .One reason given is that there are no gunny bags to fill up paddy.godowns are full is another reason. The truth is that the millers lobby is powerful. Buy the paddy at throw away price and sell at a very high rate. The consumer is not benefited or the farmer. One collector compared the farmers with animals and threatened them with jail for not cultivating. What these IAS people think of themselves? For that matter no body can understand and sympathize with farmer. They talk about reducing subsidies, talk about environment, what a ryot should grow and what not. Somebody fixes the price for his produce. He cannot fix the price by himself for his produce. One C.M said “vyavasayam danduga”.

I wish that the moment catches up and all the farmers in India do not cultivate and see what happens.


August 11, 2011

WHAT ABOUT HIS RAZORS?

As I want to become a little less sophisticated(why??) and a little more relaxed (evade all responsibilities),
I have set the following time table for myself. Please help by cooperating.

Sunday--no Phone
Monday-no TV
Tuesday--no Computer
Wednesday-no Vehicle
Thursday--no Phone
Friday--no TV
Saturday--no Computer

PS: please refer to P G Wodehouse if you cannot understand the title of the post.
PPS: yeah! I know. IT IS a semi-public forum as it is visible to everyone on the internet.




A Wound to my Amour-Propre

As I was re-reading A Study in Scarlet for a bit of light reading, I realized that there are words in Sherlock Holmes that I still don't know meanings for :-(  Here is the list to challenge the more erudite family members.

1) Sere
2) Lath
3) Bodkin
4) Bumptious
5) Minatory


August 8, 2011

New Home Pics

Here are pics of a house for sale similar to the one we recently bought. The one we bought has tenants, so here is a ready to sell, staged, unoccupied version. Interior is identical.

https://picasaweb.google.com/100439682375564182182/Newhomestaged?authkey=Gv1sRgCNq5tNjY9ZPyEQ#

Sudha Seenu ..congrats on finishing 3rd anniversary successfully!

August 7, 2011

Aditya reading Telugu

UPPU KAALAVA

THE BUCKINGHAM CANAL WAS FIRST DUG FOR A SHORT STRETCH IN 1877 (8km)linking cooum and adyar rivers.in 1878 the complete buckingham canal was done.It was named after THE duke of BUCKINHAM WHO FIRST ORDERED IT

KASI YATHRA

kasi yathra by enugula veera swamy

I have been recently reading the above book, which makes interesting reading. It is a travelogue written in 1830, nearly 180 years back. The author was head interrupter in Madras Supreme Court (a big rank at that time).He started from Madras reached kasi via Tirupati, Karakambadi, Kadapa, Srisailam, Hyderabad, and Nagpur. Gone to Kolkatta. Returned to Madras via Barampur, Vizianagaram, Simhachalam Bandar, Bapatla, Nellore, Gudur, Naidupeta etc.

He gives a very detailed account of the people, habits, culture which gives us glimpses of the past.

More interestingly, this is the path he traveled. After crossing Krishna and entering Guntur and Nellore dts

KANAGALA

BHATTIPROLU (LANJALA DIBBA)

CHANDAVOLU
BAPATLA

CHINAGANJAM

AMMANABROLU

KOHAPATNAM

EEHAMUKKALA

AKULALLURU

VELAGAPUDI SATHRAM

KAREDU

RAMAYAPATNAM

KOTHA SATHRAM

JUVVALADINNE (birth place of Potti Sriramulu)

PANTALALLURU

KODAVALURI SATHRAM

NELLORE SAHAR

MANUBOLU

GUDUR

NAIDUPETA

BRAHMANA PUDURU

DORAVARI KONERU

MANNARU POLURU

CHILAKALA PUDI

PONNERI

VICHURU

THIRUVATAYURU

THANDIAR PETA(His house)

KAVALI is NOT mentioned. The route is entirely along the coast. Grand trunk road was not formed by that time. The path was called dandu bata, meaning army route. The road is still there but of course occupied as fields. May be kavali was not a big village then. . They say it was full of agriculture fields and people used to go for kavali meaning watching. Later when the village developed the name was retained. When G.T. road was laid, it was passing through kavali and later railway line also came in 1850 or so. May be Singampalli Lakshmi Narasiah came to kavali at that time, seeking his fortunes.Kavali exists on map because of G.T road, railway line and recently due JAWAHAR BHARATHI COLLEGE.

He describes Nellore as having 1000 houses, with plenty of milk, vegetables available. The men and women are of short stature, light black(chamana chaya)color, beautiful features and with innocent nature.

Another interesting fact he mentions is that 6 thousand Brahmins (our sect), who became village karanams, earned good properties, were living in big houses. But when travelers like him came and sought hospitality, they used to refuse saying “go and find some Brahmin house”, as if they are not Brahmins

These are only some of the interesting things mentioned.

You can down load the book at http://www.archive.org/details/kasiyatracharitr020670mbp

P.S.1 The reference to Bhattiprolu where a Buddhist aaraamam was existing as lanjala dibba, has the following meaning. Buddhism was propagated , patronized by kings and whole a.p. was under Buddhism. The religion degraded and people who become sanysis or sanysinis just do nothing, roam about in streets , get food and indulge in adultery. Thus the name

P.S 2. Singampallis also have the habit of maintaining tour diaries(refer recent ladakh tour by krups and am waiting for similar diary from krupa) .One favorite book of SVSR was Dakshina Bharatha Desa Yatra and Uttara Bharatha Desa Yathra.Details about Tour diaries by SVSR (senior), SRM and grand mothers in a later post

August 5, 2011

What do these license plates mean?

In US, one can get vanity license plates for the cars to express one's creativity. For example, the license plate for one of our cars is "IADITYA ( can stand for either Indla Aditya or "I",Aditya) ". Few people asked me if we are die-hard apple fans....(iAditya ala iPad,iPod).

Can you guess what the following vanity plates mean?

NVERLA8
1BYCOSC
DRTHVDR
-CSHFLW
1OVER0
26E4U
2M8OS
AUYLOX
JSTDUIT



 

August 3, 2011

Aditya learning to read Telugu

From his UKG Telugu text book.

Aditya's Library

I had to reorganize Adi's library to fit all the new books bought from India. Thought I will take a video of how nice they look before he messes them up.