Did I forget? Never!

मुद्दतें गुजरी तेरी याद भी आई न हमें

और हम् भूल गए हों ऐसा भी नहीं

It's a long time I never even thought of you

I forgot you, even that is not true

చాల కాలమాయె నీదు తలపైన కలుగక

ఇక నిన్ను మరచితినన్న నదియును కానెకాదు

I think I am talking about this blog of mine!

I have not abandoned it.

I shall sure be back here

And with renewed vigor once again sure!

(The Urdu couplet is from Firaq Gorakhpuri)

Memory - Poetic!

Even forgetfully you wouldn't think of me

In your thought, but, I forgot everything.

It is not easy bringing the word play from Urdu into any other language!

The lines in English above are mere indicative!

Story of Sugar

A story from about 2,500 years ago captures this foment. Two brothers were leading a merchant caravan of ox-drawn carts out of the town of Bodh Gaya in northeastern India when they noticed a man sitting beside the road. He was dressed in rags. Something about him caught the brothers’ attention. “Stop!” they hollered back to the cart drivers. The brothers sent a boy to run back and dip into their stores.

The boy fished out a container of milk and some road food; accounts vary regarding exactly what it was. In some it’s a knob of peeled sugarcane; in some, honey; in others a more stick-to-the-ribs concoction, rice cakes or sweet rice balls made with milk, honey, and molasses.

“Go ahead, eat!” the brothers yelled as the boy thrust the food at the man. They had a schedule to keep; an act of kindness could not take all day. But the man hesitated. Then he bit into the cake and smiled.

The man was Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. This incident took place a few weeks after his enlightenment. Buddhist scriptures say his insight, gleaned after a long struggle, freed the former prince from his desires: the cravings for food, sex, money, and success that cause the world endless trouble. Buddhism holds that all experience is tainted by cravings. For a while, Siddhartha had starved himself trying to extinguish them, but that had only made him crave food more. Now, thanks to his enlightened state, Siddhartha apparently ate the sweet treat with no trace of these cravings, just simple enjoyment.

This account from ancient times captures a world grappling with this intense new sensation, whose pure taste and granular form made it preferable to honey. The Buddha lived in a sugarcane-growing region, and during his lifetime, India was starting to develop sugar refining into an industrial art, and created the world’s first dessert cuisine. 

References to sugar started to appear in poetry, medicinal advice, and official records around the same time, including the Arthasastra, a governing manual written around 300 BC by a bureaucrat named Kautilya. He noted sugar’s different forms in order of rising quality: guta, sarkara, and khanda (the second two are the roots of “sugar” and “candy”; sarkara is Sanskrit for “gravelly”). Members of the Jain sect, forbidden to kill even the tiniest living creature, could not eat honey because it might contain bee embryos. They turned to matsyandika, or sugar candy. Sugar was thought to keep the forces that ricocheted around the body in balance. Indian doctors believed eating it conferred special healing powers, helped digestion, and made semen more potent. According to an Indian book of cures from the second century BC: “In such a man’s body even poison becomes innocuous; his limbs grow hard and compact like stone; he becomes invulnerable.” One elixir of ginger, licorice, gum, ghee, honey, and sugar, if sipped each day for three years, was thought to guarantee a century of youth.

The two merchant brothers from the above tale, Tapassu and Bhallika, became the Buddha’s first lay disciples: they continued to spread the Buddhist message on their travels. This reflects the later historical reality: to generate income, Buddhist monks tended sugarcane and refined it. Over hundreds of years, both traders and Buddhist monks traveled the Silk Road, spreading sugarcane and the means for refining it.

Evolution and the Chinese thought!

In the age of upper antiquity, human beings were few and animals were numerous, so the people could not prevail against the birds, beasts, insects, and serpents. Then there appeared a sage who taught the people how to build nests out of wood so they could escape all harm. The people were pleased by this and made the man king of the entire world, giving him the name “The Nester.” The people ate fruits, melons, mussels, and clams, but they were putrid and foulsmelling and hurt the people’s stomachs so that they often became sick and ill. Then there appeared a sage who taught the people how to start a fire by drilling dry kindling so they could transform their rancid foods. The people were pleased by this and made the man king of the entire world, giving him the name “The Kindler.” In the age of middle antiquity, the world was covered by a great flood, but Gun and Yu of the Xia opened up channels to divert the waters. In the age of lower antiquity, the wicked kings Jie and Zhou governed cruelly and created disorder, but Tang of Yin and Wu of Zhou led punitive campaigns to overthrow them.

Now if someone built nests out of wood or started fires by drilling dry kindling during the age of the Lords of Xia, they would surely be laughed at by Gun and Yu. If someone opened up channels to divert the flood waters during the age of the Yin and Zhou, they would surely be laughed at by Tang and Wu. This being the case, if someone goes around praising the Way of Yao, Shun, Tang, Wu, and Yu in the present age, they will surely be laughed at by the new sages.

For this reason, the sage does not expect to follow the ways of the ancients or model his behavior on an unchanging standard of what is acceptable. He examines the affairs of the age and then makes his preparations accordingly.

This is how things happened according to the last major thinker of the pre-Qin period in China, the social and political theorist Han Feizi

Mathematics Then and Now

When Werner Heisenberg worried that human beings might never truly 
understand atoms, Bohr was a bit more optimistic. He replied, “I think we  
may yet be able to do so, but in the process we may have to learn what the 
word understanding really means.”

Today, we use computers to help us 
reason beyond the limitations of our own intuition. In fact, experiments with computers are leading
mathematicians to discoveries and insights never dreamed of before
the ubiquity of these devices. Computers and computer graphics allow
mathematicians to discover results long before they can prove them formally,
thus opening entirely new fields of mathematics. 

Even simple computer tools, such as spreadsheets, give modern mathematicians power
that Heisenberg, Einstein, and Newton would have lusted after. As just
one example, in the late 1990s, computer programs designed by David
Bailey and Helaman Ferguson helped to produce new formulas that
related pi to log 5 and two other constants. As Erica Klarreich reports in
the April 24, 2004, edition of Science News, once the computer had
produced the formula, proving that it was correct was extremely easy.
Often, simply knowing the answer is the largest hurdle to overcome when
formulating a proof.

While at school I was reasonably good at mathematics.
Somehow, I never liked numerals though.
I remember asking the history teacher, what does it matter whether Buddha was born in a particular year or two years that way or this.
What matters is what he said or did.

When I joined biology stream, our beloved maths teacher came to that class and asked me to shift to Math class. He said all my cousins, his earlier students, were very good at mathematics and I should follow them.
I never went.

I did not even continue in biology. I shifted to Language. Then back to biology.
After a good number of years and a doctorate I left the stream once again.
I drifted and drifted.
Where am I now?
Nowhere?
Now I want to read and write about Mathematics.
May be to regain the lost fun!!

What is Sufism?

From Idries Shah.

Four men-a Persian, a Turk, an Arab, and a Greek were standing in a village street . They were traveling com panions, making for some distant place but at this moment they were arguing over the spending of a single piece of money which was all that they had among them.
"I want to buy angur," said the Persian.
"I want uzum," said the Turk.
"I want inab," said the Arab.
"Not" said the Greek, "we should buy staftl."
Another traveler passing, a linguist, said, "Give the coin to me. I undertake to satisfy the desires of all of you ."
At first they would not trust him . Ultimately they let him have the coin. He went to the shop of a fruit seller and bought four small bunches of grapes .
"This is my anger," said the Persian.
"But this is what I call uzum," said the Turk .
"You have brought me inab," said the Arab .
"Not" said the Greek, "this in my language is staftl."

The grapes were shared out among them, and each realized that the disharmony had been due to his faulty understanding of the language of the others.

"The travelers," said the Agha, "are the ordinary people of the world . The linguist is the Sufi. People know that they want something, because there is an inner need in them. They may give it different names, but it is the same thing. Those who call it religion have different names for it, and even different ideas as to what it might be. Those who call it ambition try to find its scope in different ways. But it is only when a linguist appears, someone who knows what they really mean, that they can stop the struggling and get on with the eating of the grapes ."

D. Carleton Gajdusek - A Scientist with difference

I met this great human being when he came to Hyderabad to participate in the seminar to coincide with the inauguration of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.
I even had a long chat with him.
A photo taken at that time was printed in one of teh leading newspapers along with an article of mine.
Alas, those people did not give the photo back.

Read what he says and you would understand why I remember him after all these years.

I find fun in science only when I am thought to be a charlatan. You don’t know what
you are doing, you don’t know what questions to ask. You mull it over and you have
foolish ideas for ten or twenty years; you talk to your colleagues, and they don’t get it
and get bored. That is the creative process of science. When you know what questions
to ask and how to approach them and can finally get your colleagues excited, and they
run home to write a grant proposal, you know you’ve done your job, and you move
elsewhere.

The biggest damage to diabetics research was Banting and Best’s discovery of insulin.
It caused fifty years in which little work was done on the cause or prevention of
diabetes, only studies on physiology of insulin, production of different insulin pharmaceuticals,
and desensitizing people who are sensitive to insulin. It has nothing to do
with ever preventing or curing diabetes. The same with multiple sclerosis. Today we
know no more about the cause than we did in the early twentieth century. The same is
for schizophrenia. I am waiting for the eighteen-year-old to come into my office, saying,
‘I’m going to give my life to find the cause of schizophrenia.’ 

I remember the first thing I asked him was "how to pronounce his name"
He heartily laughed at that!

America!!! The Promised Land?

This is what is the thinking about Americaaaaaa!
My son is there.
My daughter-in-law is there!
Am I there in America?
Would I be there in due course?

“In America, the streets are paved with gold. And everything else is stuffed with cheese and bacon.”

Property lead to more Work!!

This is an interesting observation!
We tend to think that more property causes one to become lazy.
During evolution, however, it was the other way round.

Read on.

And once there was property, laziness must have decreased. There were many ways in which hard work could produce enduring assets that could increase an individual’s fitness or that of his children and relatives. Farmers could save to buy more land or livestock. They could build long-lasting improvements like buildings or irrigation works. This was not really possible for hunter-gatherers—there was no way for them to accumulate wealth. If they had full stomachs and their tools and weapons were in good shape, hunter-gatherers didn’t work. They hung out: They talked, gossiped, and sang. They were lazy, and they should have been: Being lazy made biological sense. They could usually obtain enough food fairly easily, since constant local violence kept human numbers below the land’s carrying capacity. When law and order let human density increase, farmers eventually had to work harder and harder just to survive. Here again, selection must have favored those odd people who like to work, even when there was enough to eat.

Ultimately, this meant that both sexes had to work hard. In fact, for most people, that became the only way to produce enough to feed and raise a family. That pattern is not universal. In situations where resources are abundant, men sometimes do little work. Men working hard to feed their families—“high paternal investment,” we call it—is common among contemporary hunter-gatherers and may well have been a standard feature of the ancestors of all modern humans. Women bring in most of the calories in such societies (from plant foods), at least in warm climates, but the meat contributed by male hunters is a vital source of protein and other essential nutrients.

Forgive and move ahead!

I am too sensitive, I know!
In fact I am feeling a little let down these days!
Perhaps I am the reason for the situation!
I am!
Then I found the following few lines.
They made sense!

Forgive!

Most people whom we meet are kind and helpful.
Only a few have been unkind and unhelpful.
Forgive them!
It is over!
Don’t let anger and hurt stay in your system.
Let them go.
Be kind to those who you forgive.
Once you forgive, your health will improve.
Don’t harbour any bad feelings or grudges.
They make you old.
Then, as you move at a slower pace, remember that everyone has much bigger challenges than appear on the surface.
Make allowances. Most people are doing their best.
Like you, they have made many mistakes and have many regrets.
They are human, too.

Carbon and Silicon

Read on to understand the importance of these two elements that we see at every corner of the world.

Carbon lies at the centre of life, its ubiquitous and indispensable ingredient. Carbon atoms link together in chains, and bind with other atoms, to make the whole array of organic chemicals that constitute life itself, from DNA to toenails. Only one other atom is as versatile as carbon, and that is silicon, which comprises the essential ingredient of many rock-forming minerals. It, too, can hold hands with its neighbours through large molecules. Silicon chip technology exploits its properties, and it is not a coincidence that silicon intelligence is portrayed as the only possible rival to that of our own carbon-based brain. You do not have to be a fanatical reductionist to understand that the soul of life is carbonaceous and the soul of rock siliceous.

Seela Veerraju - Poetry

Way back in eighty's Sri Veerraju made blocks out of his hand written poetry.
Poetry also is his own.
He bound the volumes himself.
It was a unique effort.
Here is a sampler of that book.
The Title of the book si Kitiki Kannu (The Window Eye)

  Kitiki Kannu, Anthology of Poetry

Soon the complete book would be made available.

History or Herstory?

There can never be a herstory!
It is the story of everyone.
The word History is not based on Him or Her!
Is hernia a female problem?
Never!

Read along!

When the word history was first used (by the late 1300s), it could
mean any kind of recounting—true or false. A history could be
false, and still be a history. So let’s take a look at the history, both
true and false, of the word history (which I would like to call historysquared
or meta-history, except for the fact that we are looking at
the word and not the study).
We’ve all heard of herstory, a clever but perhaps overused play on
word. The word in question is, of course history, regenderized for a
feminist twist. Many if not most people who use herstory know that
the his in history is not the complement of hers; they’re simply
employing the same sort of wordplay that has given us such
frequent and less-serious constructions as hersterectomy,
himnia/hisnia, womenopause and womenstruation, and galnocologist.
On the other hand, others promote the folk etymology that history
compounds his and story seriously, whether or not they actually
believe it. I like what I spotted on a blog entry about the word: “It
should be history . . . for reasons of historiography (or, if you will—
though I hope you won’t—herstoriography: but can anyone say
herstoriography with a straight face?).”
The truth is that history traces back through Latin as historia,
which was borrowed from the Greek word meaning “narrative,
recounting, or something learned by inquiring.”
So you can see that there’s no maleness to the word, despite the
masculine disguise of the syllable his . . . though let’s be true to the
word history by learning something else by inquiring. If we take an
additional step back, we find that the Greek historia is derived from 
the word histor, which had such meanings as “knowledge,” “learning,”
and . . . um . . .“wise man.” So, the wise man told . . . his story.

Family name! Japanese Style

You just cannot believe this!

There was a man in Sekiguchi who went every day to enjoy himself in the pleasure quarter (ura-machi) of Tono with its restaurants and brothels. The brothel he frequented was named Sankoro (the sun, moon, and stars brothel). So the locals called him Sankoro. Eventually, Sankoro became the family name, and it remains that way even now. 

Experience!

Failure is instructive.

The person who really thinks learns quite as much

from his failures as from his successes.

- John Dewey

What is Science?

No explanations needed!!

Damerla Ramarao - obit

This is an article published in the magazine Sharada after the sad demise of the young artiste.

దామెర్ల రామారావు

                రాజమహేంద్రవర పుర వాస్తవ్యులగు దామెర్ల రామారావుగారి యకాలమరణమును గూర్చి నివేదించుట కెంతయు చింతిలుచున్నారము. వీరి కిరువది యేడువత్సరములు మాత్రమే వయస్సు. కాని వారికిప్పుడే శతవర్ష పరిమితి యగుట యాంధ్రుల దురదృష్టమనుటకు సందియములేదు. వీరాంధ్ర దేశమునందేకాక భారతదేశము నందును ` ఖండాంతరముల యందుగూడ కీర్తిగణించిరి. వీరివలననే దేశ దేశాంతరములు ` ఖండ ఖండాంతరములయందు శిల్ప కళాసామ్రాజ్యము నందాంధ్రుల కర్హస్థానము లభించునని యువ్విళ్లూరుతుండ బంధుమిత్రులు, విద్యార్థులు, విద్యాధికుల కోరికల నూడబెరికి రామారావుగారిని పరలోకమునకుగొని యేగిన విధి నేమన వలయును?

                వీరితండ్రి దామెర్ల రమణారావు పంతులుగారు ప్రసిద్ధికెక్కిన వైద్యులైయుండిరి. సంఘసంస్కార ప్రియులు. వీరేశలింగం పంతులుగారికి కుడిభజమైయుండిరి. అందువలననే వారు పుత్రికా పుత్రుల కున్నతవిద్య జెప్పించి పరమపదించిరి. వీరియున్న గారగు వేంకటరావుగారు కూల్డ్రేగారి శిష్యులు. ఆర్ట్సు కాలేజి ప్రింసిపాలగు కూల్డేగారే రాజమహేంద్ర వరమున శిల్పబీజముల నాటిన మహనీయుడు. చాలమంది యువకులను చేర దీసి కళావిషయముల బోధించియుండిరి. వారి యపూర్వాదరణకు బాత్రమైన వారిలో ముఖ్యులు మన రామారావు గారొక్కరు.

                రామారావుగారికి స్వభావ సిద్ధముగనే శిల్పకళ యలవడెను. ఈయన బాల్యము నుండియు చిత్తరువుల రచించుచుండిరి. వీరు చిన్నప్పుడు స్వతంత్రముగ రచించిన చిత్తరువుల గాంచి కూల్డేగా రానంద భరితులై యీతడాంధ్రదేశమున శిల్పపీఠము నలంకరింప గలడను నమ్మకమున ధనసహాయమొనర్చి బొంబాయియందు గవర్నమెంటువారు స్ధాపించిన శిల్ప కళాశాలకు బంపించిరి.

                అచ్చటనయిదువత్సరములు శిల్పవిద్యనభ్యసింపవలయును. కాని ప్రధమముననే రామరావుగారిన మూడవతరగతియందు జేర్చుకొనిరి. ఉపాధ్యాయులు విద్యార్ధులు నబ్బురబాటు జెంద వీరుమూడువత్సరములలో సంపూర్ణ పాండిత్యమునార్జించి ప్రఖ్యాతిగాంచిరి. ఆ కాలేజి ప్రింసిపాలగు సాలమనుగారు అజంటా పద్ధతులనుగ ఊడ తన పద్ధతులయందు జొప్పింపజొచ్చెను. రామారావుగారు సాలమను మొదలగు ప్రముఖుల యాశీర్వాదమునొంది యజంటాకేగి యచ్చటి మనోహర ప్రాచ్య శిల్ప చిత్తరువులగాంచి కలకత్తాకేగి జగద్వ్యిఖ్యాతి గాంచిన భారతీయ చిత్రకళాచార్యులగు అవనీంద్ర నాధటాగూరు, గగనేంద్ర నాధటాగూరు, నందలాల్‌బోసు మొదలగు శేముషీ దురంధరుల దర్శించి పావనగోదా నరీసలిలముల పవిత్రమగుచున్న రాజమహేంద్ర పురమున స్వగృహమునందు చిత్రరచనకు గడంగిరి. వీరురచించిన గోదావరి చిత్తరువునొక దానిని శారద, యందు బ్రచురించు యుంటిమి. ఆ చిత్తరువు పాఠకుల మిక్కుటముగ నాకర్షించియుంట యతిశయోక్తిగాదు. రాజమహేంద్రవరము కాకినాడ పురములయందు జరిగిన ప్రదర్శనములయందు వీరికి ప్రధమ బహుమానము వచ్చెను.

                1922 సంవత్సరమున కలకత్తాయందు జరిగిన ప్రాచ్యశిల్ప ప్రదర్శనమును గాంచుట కేగియుంటిమి. అప్పుడేమఱి యొకచోట గవర్ణమెంటువారొక శిల్ప ప్రదర్శనమును బెట్టిరి. అందు రామారావుగారి చిత్తరువులకు ప్రధమ బహుమానము. వచ్చుటయే కాక, ఈతనినామధేయము కలకత్తాయందంతటను మారు మ్రోగెను. కొందఱు స్నేహితులు రామారావుగారి చిత్రములగూర్చి మాతో ప్రసంగింపుచు, నాతని కళానిపుణతను శతముఖముల వెల్లడిరచిరి ` అండను నందు జరిగినవెంబ్లీ యెగ్జిబిషను నందు వీరి 

చిత్తరువులు గణకెక్కెను. కెనడా యెగ్జిబిషనునకు వీరి బొమ్మలలో కొన్నిటి నెన్నిరి `

                శుక్లపక్ష చంద్రుని బోలినది దినాభివృద్ధి గాంచుచున్న రామారావుగారి స్వర్గారోహణ పర్వమువలన గలిగిన దీరనిదుఃఖమునకు వీరి కుటుంబమునకును, బంధు బాంధవులకును మాహృదయ పూర్వకముగు సానుభూతిని దెల్పుచు, రామారావుగారి యాత్మకు శాంతిని గలిగించు గాతయని పరమేశ్వరుని బ్రార్ధింపుచున్నాము.

Kinnerasani Paatalu

This is an article by Kompella Janardhana Rao

కిన్నెరసాని పాట : కోకిలమ్మ పెళ్లి 

                 ఆ దొరకి కూతుళ్ళు ఇద్దరు, చిలకతల్లీ కోకిలమ్మానూ. చిన్ననాడే పలుక మొదలెట్టి తండ్రికి మేను పులకరింపించిన చిలకతల్లి వేదపనసలు చెప్పుకొనే బ్రాహ్మణుణ్ణి తనలో నిలిపివేసింది. ఇంట్లో నిరాదరము పాలయి, చెప్పుకొనేటందుకు నోరయినా లేక ప్రకృతి తల్లితోపాటు తల్లీ వెదకుకుంటూ వచ్చి కౌగిలించింది. దీవించి పెళ్ళి చేసింది.

                ‘చిలకతల్లి మహాన్వయంబున

                నిలిచినవి సాంస్కృతిక వాక్కులు

                కోకిలమ్మా తెనుగుపలుకూ

                కూడ బెట్టిందీ.’

                కావ్యమంతా చెక్కినధ్వని యిక్కడ కోకిలమ్మ తెనుగుపలుకులో ముడివడి కావ్యం ముగింసింది. ఈ కథ (వొట్టిది) జరిగేటప్పటికి ఈ తెలుగులంతా గొప్పయెకివిూళ్ళు.

                ‘దొంగ నాగరికతలో దేశం

                తూలిపో లేదోయ్‌’

                అందుకే యిద్దరు కూతుళ్లే అయినారు తెలుగురాజుకి ఇద్దరమ్మలనూ వలపించగలయీ కవివాక్కు కోకిలమ్మ పెళ్ళికి తెలుగు తీపులు పట్టి అడివిని, సెలయేరునూ, ఆలాటి సామగ్రిని తలపించే ప్రాకృతగతులతో మనస్సును గుంజుతూ నడిచింది. గురజాడ అప్పారావుగారి తీయని లేత నడకలు దాటి వీరి ముత్యాలసరం, కవితా సంపన్నమయిన్ని, పాకరహితమైన విరగబాటు చేపట్టింది, వస్తువు తలచి, అసలు సత్యనారాయణగారి కవిత జాగ్రత్తతోడి దిద్దుబాటుకంటె ఉద్రేకముతోడి విరగబాటే యెక్కువ విందు పెట్టుతుంది. మరికొన్ని మెలకువలు ఈ పొంగులలో అందాలు తెరుస్తవి.

                ‘కోకిలమ్మ పెళ్ళి’ కంటె విరివి అయిన ‘కిన్నెరసాని పాటలు’ వీరి కవితా సంపదను మిక్కిలిగా ప్రవహించినవి. అసలు కథాకల్పనమే హృద్యమైనది. అత్తగారి అపనిందకు అనిష్టమైన అడవుల పరుగులువారి, ప్రేమకల మగని అనునయ కౌగిలిలో కరిగి నీరై పారిన భార్య కిన్నెరసానికై అతడు శిల అయిన క్రమము అంతా కవి చెప్పక, అతనినోటనే.

                ‘ఈ యేడుపు రొదలోపల

                నా యొడలే నే నెరుగను

                నా యీ దేహ మదేమో

                రాయివోలె నగుచున్నది’

                అనిపించి చూపిన సొగసు వీరి విలక్షణమైన కళావిహార చాతుర్యమును చూపుతుంది. ఈ కావ్యములో ఈ దీనకథలో కొన్ని ఘట్టాలు కంట నీరు పెట్టకుండా చదవడం కష్టం: రసస్ఫూర్తిని గూర్చి మాటాడగల సహృదయానుభవమంతా ఇందలి కళాజ్యోతికి తృప్తి పడ తీరుతుంది. కిన్నెరసానిని ఒక వీరవనితగా , తెలుగు జాతి మనస్సులో ప్రవహించగల నాయికగా సృష్టిచేసి నిజమైన కావ్యసంపత్తి నిర్వహించినాడు కవి. నవ్యకవితలో మొదటి పంక్తిని నిలువగల కొలది కావ్యాలలో ‘కిన్నెరసాని పాటలు’ ఒకటి. ఇందు ప్రకృతి ఎంతో విస్తృతముగా జీవము పట్టి అనుభవానికి రసశుద్ధి తేగలుగుతున్నది.

                ‘తలిరాకువంటి మె

                త్తని యెర్ర పెదవితో

                తార్చి నామోము నద్దగ రావు కాబోలు

                నాయొడల్‌ మిగుల నందపుకుప్ప యని చెప్పి

                ఎల్లతావులను ముద్దిడ రావు కాబోలు’

                ‘అని సన్న గొంతుతో’ పతికై వసరిన కిన్నెరసాని యేడ్పుతో ఎంతో సన్నిహితమై గాఢమైన అనుభవము సాధారణీకృతికి రావడమేకాక, రచనయున్నూ అస్వాద్యముగా నడిచింది. ఈ పాకములు కిన్నెరసానిలో తరుచుగా పూచినవి. ‘కొకిలమ్మ పెళ్ళి’లో అడవీ, అక్కడ తిరిగే కోకిలా కనిపిస్తే ఇక్కడ కోకిలమ్మ పాటలు పుష్పించి ప్రకృతి అంతటా మ్రోగించింది. ‘కిన్నెరనడకలు’ రసమయమై, ‘గోదావరీ సంగమము’ శిల్ప విలసితమై మరీ హృదములై నఘట్టాలు. అసలు గోదావరిలో కలిసిపోయిన కిన్నెర ప్రసంగములో సముద్రుని పాత్రము కల్పించడం కవి నాటకీయ ప్రతిభ చాటుతుంది. తన గొంతుతో కవి తానుపాడిన ఒక పాట కాక, ఎన్నో పాటలు రూపాలుకట్టి వచ్చి దీనికి మహాకావ్యత్వము సంపాదిస్తున్నవి.

                కొన్ని అతిధోరణులు (వీరు ముక్తసరుగా పాడరు,) పచ్చిగా ఎండుగాపడితే, అవీ వీరి ఉద్రేకము తాలూకు విశిష్టతను తెలుపుతవి. అట్టివి కూడా కావ్య గతిలో విడిచిన విచ్చలవిడితనమే కొన్ని ఉన్ముక్తములైన సౌందర్య విభ్రమాలకు పూచీ, వహిస్తుందని స్మరిస్తే అది కవిని అంతటా సమర్ధించడం కాదు గమనించడం.

                ఛందోగతుల అందాలు కలుపుకోడంలో స్వరకలితమైన సంగీతాభిజ్ఞత అవసరమని చెప్పేవారము కవులు ఒప్పుకోనక్కరలేదు. చరిత్ర ఒప్పుకోదుకాని, కొందరిపట్ల ఆజ్ఞానము అందుకు తోడ్పడ్డదవుతుందంటే ప్రతిఘటించనక్కరలేదు. కవితయందు ఏర్పడే సంగీతమే గమనించానా, సత్యనారాయణగారు పెళ్ళిపోకడలుగా ఛందోగతులు నడిపించి అందాలు కురిపించారు.

Thanks to friend for this material.

Oceans origin!

If you accept them, there is no question!
If you really want to know, there are millions of doubts!!

Chinese history - Confucius and Lao Tze

Two great thinkers with far-reaching infl uence on Chinese history emerged
in the Spring and Autumn Period—Confucius and Lao Tze.

Confucius, named Qiu and style-named Zhongni, was a thinker of the State
of Lu. His thoughts were mainly recorded in The Analects of Confucius, a book
compiled by his disciples. The essence of Confucianism is Ren (benevolence)
and Li (ritual norms). He advocated the idea that “the benevolent loves his
fellow people,” and requested the rulers experience and observe the situation
of the people. He was against tyranny and arbitrary punishment. He advocated
the codes of loyalty and tolerance, and called for “not doing to others what you
don’t want to be done to you” (do unto others as you would have them do unto
you) and understanding others as a way to harmonize personal relationships
and stabilize the social order.

Confucius also valued “ruling by morality” and “ruling with the ritual
norms.” He saw that one could maintain the political and educational system
of the country by encouraging self restraint, restoring rituals, and practicing
moral behavior. He attempted to correct the chaotic social class order in
accordance with the ritual system of the Zhou Dynasty and make it perfectly
justifiable, reflecting his conservative political ideology. However, Confucius
was not against improving and reforming obsolete ritual customs and
political orders on the basis of maintaining an outdated social class system.

Mencius and Xun Zi in the Warring States Period inherited and developed Confucius’ theory and made the political ideals and moral norms of Confucianism the mainstream of traditional thought in China for more than two millennia.

Lao Tze, surnamed Li, named Er, and style-named Dan, was a thinker of the State of Chu. Erudite and knowledgeable, he was once the historical official in the royal court of the Eastern Zhou, responsible for managing collections. Confucius once asked Lao Tze about “ritual norms.”

The Tao Te Ching, a book compiled by the followers of Taoism in the Warring States Period, records the thought of Lao Tze and is replete with the philosophy
and wisdom typical of the oriental world. Lao Tze denied the absolute authority of destiny, advocated following natural laws, and ruling without intervention. “Ruling without intervention” means not intervening arbitrarily. Lao Tze
warned the rulers not to oppress the common people too much.

However, his ideal that “though the noises made by the chickens and dogs can be heard, the people do not contact each other until death” and his concept of “making the people ignorant and without desire” led to some negative effects.
His philosophy sides, for example—high and low, front and rear, existence and void, difficult and easy, life and death, noble and humble—and everything could shift to the opposite. Lao Tze has been regarded by later generations as the founder of Taoism. His thought has had and continues to have a great influence on Chinese culture, including philosophy and ethics, as well as the mode of thinking, morality, and personality of the Chinese people. is rich in dialectic thinking. Lao Tze pointed out that everything has two contradictory Lao Tze on an Ox. It is said that Lao Tze, seeing that the Zhou Dynasty was declining, rode an ox out of the Hangu Pass and vanished from the earthly life.

Shakespeare and Science

By the Favor of the Heavens

Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
November 19, 1572
6:05 p.m.

“Father!”
A middle-aged man turns to greet his son, one of a dozen schoolboys making their way out of the King’s New School and onto Chapel Lane. It’s getting cold; the man pulls his cloak to his chest. He’s thankful to be wearing his new fur cap rather than the felt one he’d had to make do with the previous winter. The boy, as full of energy as ever, doesn’t seem to mind the cold.

“You don’t need to walk me home, Father. I’m almost nine years old.” The boy’s breath is visible in the crisp winter air.

“Eight and a half is not ‘almost nine.’ But you’re right, William, you are a young man now,” the father replies. “It happens that I had some business at the church, and I was just on my way back. Let us make haste now, your mother and the children are waiting. I hope you didn’t give Master Hunt any trouble today?”

“Master Hunt had to leave for Alveston, on account of his mother being sick.”

The father is taken aback; usually he is the first to hear any news of that kind. “Is that so?”
“But another teacher took his place,” the boy continues. “Master Jenkins. We still had to do all of that Latin grammar. But we also talked about the Bible, and the children in the upper form read a poem by Horace, and got to act out a scene from a Roman play.”

“Horace was my favorite. Can you remember a few lines?”

“Let me think.… There is nothing that the hands of the Claudii will not accomplish—”
“Not in English. Horace isn’t meant to be read in English. In Latin, William, please.”
“Oh, Father, school is out. And I don’t like Latin.”

“Whether you like it is hardly the point. You must learn it to be a gentleman—and, for the next few years, to escape the birch. Now continue. In Latin.”

“Um … nil Claudiae non perficient manus, quas et … um … benignus numine Iuppiter—”
“Benigno numine,” his father interrupted, correcting the boy’s grammar. “It means ‘by the favor of the heavens.’ That’s enough for now. You did very well, William.”

The pair turn from Chapel Street onto High Street. It is now growing dark; the long winter’s night stretches ahead. The full moon will provide some relief, but it is only just creeping above the eastern horizon. It has been a cloudy day—a little snow fell earlier—but as the wind blows, the clouds finally begin to part. In the southeast shines mighty Jupiter—the same Jupiter the Romans had put their faith in as they marched into battle; the same Jupiter that Horace had rhapsodized over. As they reach Henley Street, William stops and gazes upward.

“What are you looking at, son?”

“It’s something Master Jenkins told us about. He said there was a new star in the sky. He said he had been in Oxford yesterday, and everyone was talking about it.”

The father lets out a hearty laugh. “Don’t be silly, William. I heard some talk of it also at the guild, but the reverend said it couldn’t be, and of course he is right. It could be a comet perhaps.”

“But Father, Master Jenkins said it was a star. In the constellation of—the queen with the funny shape. The queen shaped like an ‘M.’”

“Cassiopeia,” the father replies. In spite of himself, he turns northward to see what may be there. His son turns to follow his gaze. “The Lord doesn’t just create new stars, the way Mr. Smith hammers out horseshoes. God created the world thousands of years ago, and he doesn’t need to make improvements.”

A pause.

“I think that’s it!” William points to a bright star, eastward from the pole, just visible now that the clouds have passed. It stands just to the left of the unmistakable “M” of Cassiopeia.
The father has to admit there is something there. Whatever it is, it’s even brighter than Jupiter. Brighter even than Venus had been that morning, as far as he could recall.
“Father—what does it mean?”

“I don’t know, son. And I don’t know that it really is what it appears to be. It could just as well be the devil’s work as the Lord’s. And now we really must carry on, or supper will be cold. Not to mention my fingers.”

“I’m coming, Father.” But the boy lingers for one last look as his father heads off down the street. “It’s beautiful,” he says, and then runs to catch up. “I don’t think it’s a comet, Father, because comets have tails.”

“More nonsense from Master Jenkins? Well, cats have tails too, but Mrs. Olden’s cat doesn’t have one, and it’s still a cat.”

The boy pauses, seemingly deep in thought. “Why doesn’t Mrs. Olden’s cat have a tail?”

“They say Mr. Olden’s dog bit it off,” his father replies.

“Well, maybe a dog bit off the new star’s tail,” the boy offers.

“That’s quite an imagination you have, son. And how many dogs are there in the sky, William?”

Another pause—and then a wide smile. “Two, Father! You showed them to me last winter—the big dog and the little dog!”

The father laughs. “You do have quite a wit, don’t you, son? Now say their names in Latin, please.”

“Oh, Father! Canis … Canis Major and Canis Minor.”

“Very good, son. By Jove, I swear you’ll make a fine lawyer one day!

People think as scientifically as their world around.
Children then are more science oriented than the elders.
The above is a dialogue between the bard as child and his father.
Is it not interesting?
Don't squirm when a child asks an uncomfortable question.
Try to think like the child.
Not like your father.
That takes you further!!!

Why is sea water salty?

Many may know!
Many may not know!
Did you ever think about this question?

Begging - Tirukkural

Kural no. 1061

Not to beg is billions worth

Even from eye-like friends who give with mirth.

                                            - Sudhananda Bharati's version

ఇచ్చువాడు ఎంత మెచ్చి ఇచ్చిన గూడ

బిచ్చమడుగనివాడు భాగ్యశాలి

కంటివంటి సఖుడు కానుకగ ఇచ్చినను

భిక్షమడుగకున్న లక్ష విలువ

Translations to Telugu by Vijayagopal

Kushwant Singh Says

Read an excerpt from one of the articles of the Grand Old Man of Indian Journalism, the one and the only Kushwant Singh!!

Our forest wealth has fallen to dangerous levels causing enormous erosion of soil
and silting of our dams. Our river and coastal waters are heavily polluted.
We have to impose an immediate ban on the felling of trees and the use of wood
 for making furniture and buildings. There are plenty of synthetic substitutes to 
replace timber. Trees were an object of worship in olden times: some communities 
like the Bishnois of Haryana and Rajasthan still venerate trees and forbid them being 
cut down. We have to revive the tradition of sanctity accorded to trees. Enormous amount
of wood is wasted in cremating the dead. There is nothing in the Hindu or Sikh
religion requiring cremation by wood.

Annadurai and M.G. Ramachandran were buried. Many Hindu communities
in south India bury their dead. Most Jain munis are also buried. In towns and
cities where there are no electric or gas crematoriums, provision should be made
for Hindu-Sikh cemeteries. No graves or tombstones should be made on them
and the land ploughed over every five years and returned to agriculture. In
coastal towns and cities, the dead should be immersed in the sea. Tree planting
should be made a religious obligation as well as incorporated in our educational
system. No school or college student should be issued a school-leaving
certificate, his degree or diploma unless he or she can produce evidence of
having planted a specified number of trees and nourished them. Tree planting
should also be given the top priority in bequests for charity.

This is almost unknown in India. In Israel, on the other hand, you can see
miles of dense forests of pine and fir lining both sides of the highways. All of
them were planted in memory of the dead. That is how Israel has become green
while its Arab neighbours dwell in the desert. Tree planting is as important as
donating money to build schools, colleges and hospitals. We can, if we have the
will to do so, make our country green and prosperous. That must be the aim of
our religion.

Motion makes the universe!!

If it is all void, you cannot perceive anything. Matter has to be there. If matter is not moving, you again cannot perceive anything. It is motion that makes the universe tick!

( Look at the image for a while. Is there some movement?)

Read on!

Motion is everywhere: friendly and threatening, terrible and beautiful. It is fundamental
to our human existence.We need motion for growing, for learning, for thinking and
for enjoying life. We use motion for walking through a forest, for listening to its noises
and for talking about all this. Like all animals, we rely on motion to get food and to
survive dangers. Like all living beings, we need motion to reproduce, to breathe and to
digest. Like all objects, motion keeps us warm.

Motion is the most fundamental observation about nature at large. It turns out that
everything that happens in the world is some type of motion. There are no exceptions.
Motion is such a basic part of our observations that even the origin of the word is lost in
the darkness of Indo-European linguistic history. The fascination of motion has always
made it a favourite object of curiosity. By the fifth century bce in ancient Greece, its
Ref. 1 study had been given a name: physics.

Human beings enjoy perceiving. Perception starts before birth, and we continue enjoying
it for as long as we can.That is why television, even when devoid of content, is so successful.
During our walk through the forest at the foot ofMotionMountain we cannot avoid
perceiving. Perception is first of all the ability to distinguish. We use the basicmental act
of distinguishing in almost every instant of life; for example, during childhood we first
learned to distinguish familiar from unfamiliar observations.This is possible in combination
with another basic ability, namely the capacity to memorize experiences.Memory
gives us the ability to experience, to talk and thus to explore nature. Perceiving, classifying
and memorizing together form learning.Without any one of these three abilities, we
could not study motion.

Children rapidly learn to distinguish permanence from variability. They learn to recognize
human faces, even though a face never looks exactly the same each time it is seen.
From recognition of faces, children extend recognition to all other observations. Recognition
works pretty well in everyday life; it is nice to recognize friends, even at night, and
even after many beers (not a challenge).The act of recognition thus always uses a form
of generalization. When we observe, we always have some general idea in our mind. Let
us specify the main ones.

Sitting on the grass in a clearing of the forest at the foot of Motion Mountain, surrounded
by the trees and the silence typical of such places, a feeling of calmness and tranquility
envelops us. We are thinking about the essence of perception. Suddenly, something
moves in the bushes; immediately our eyes turn and our attention focuses. The
nerve cells that detect motion are part of the most ancient part of our brain, shared with
birds and reptiles: the brain stem. Then the cortex, or modern brain, takes over to analyse
the type of motion and to identify its origin. Watching the motion across our field
of vision, we observe two invariant entities: the fixed landscape and the moving animal.
After we recognize the animal as a deer, we relax again.

Waves and Speed

Waves and their speed!

Did it ever occur to you?
We are trained not to ask questions and take things as they come.
Never we do think on things that do not disturb us!
You don't think that there is a body that is you, unless some part of it hurts you, the body!

Read this!

After all, in a boat the waves generated move
ahead of the boat with a relative speed which is the normal
wave speed minus the speed of the pursuing boat. In a
similar way, the waves that are being left behind to the rear
should move away at a speed equal to the normal wave
speed plus the speed of the boat !!

Now think if the image is right?

My Son writes in Telugu!

Here is a link to what my son wrote in his blog!
Mind you he wrote in Telugu!!!!
Please comment on his ramblings!


http://phanindrak.blogspot.in/2015/03/blog-post.html

Do You Know?

Do nothing?