Two Legends!

similar emotions, similar talent..the same end result..amazing!

Matlab Movies

Here is a short tutorial on Matlab movies of plots..

figure,for j=1:ctr
plot(x,y(:,j))
axis([xlt xrt ylt yrt])
movielist(j) = getframe(gcf);%%%this gets the entire figure.
end

To simply play the created move 'n' times at the frame rate of 'r' per second:

figure,movie(gcf,movielist,n,r)

To save the movie into an avi file

writerObj = VideoWriter('moviefile.avi');
open(writerObj);

for j=1:ctr
writeVideo(writerObj,movielist(j));end

close(writerObj); 

Lenovo T430u Windows 8 (pre-installed) and Ubuntu 12.04 dual boot

This is a personal note (possibly useful to others) of my experience with installing Ubuntu on a Lenovo t430u laptop that I got recently.

First of all the major issue in the installation was the SecureBoot feature that is packed into Windows 8. As a result when you try to boot a LiveUSB containing the Ubuntu installation script, Windows does not recognise this. I saw that Ubuntu 12.10 is supposedly compatible with the secure boot nature of Windows 8 but even when I tried, it still was not recognised...(this is a developing story, may be in a year or in the next LTS of Ubuntu they will fix it... ).

So the first step is to disable the secureboot option by going into the bios---For lenovo users

1. Press enter and F1 during start up to enter bios screen
2. Disable Secure Boot---(Under Tab Security--->Secure Boot--> choose Disable )
3. Under tab Startup (in Bios)---> UEFI/Legacy Boot--Choose Legacy only (without doing this I found that on startup after installing Ubuntu, grub does not load!!!!) 
4. Under tab Restart (in Bios)... Load Setup Defaults (this was another thing that I think tends to load the original startup conditions (thus disabling non-(UEFI/Secure Boot signed) software).), I disabled this as well

Having done the above things one can install Ubuntu and grub will load on start up..It may seem as though everything is great. In fact it is on the Ubuntu side of things. But now when you choose the Windows from grub...there is an error! This is a combined issue of grub + number 3 we did above by making Legacy the
only booting option. In any case first go to the Ubuntu side and fix grub as follows:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/221835/installing-ubuntu-on-a-pre-installed-uefi-supported-windows-8-system
I am following the part right below the question in the above post:

After finishing the installation, if you happen to have Windows 8 disabled from booting and it only boots to Ubuntu, do not worry. In Ubuntu after it boots, open a Terminal and type the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install boot-repair

Now run boot-repair

Boot Repair will mention that we have some GRUB error, that we have an EFI system and that Ubuntu rocks. Since Ubuntu rocks (It does not work if Ubuntu does not rock! ^^), just click onApply so boot repair fixes everything. No reboot and you should see Windows 8 and Ubuntu side by side.

The one change we need to do after restarting following Boot Repair is to change step 3 above:

Under tab Startup (in Bios)---> UEFI/Legacy Boot--Choose Both with UEFI first option

Then grub should work as one expects with Ubuntu and Windows options...(Windows Boot is the right one to choose amongst the many different Windows options)

What can we do about rape?

The last few weeks have been agonising! The news of  Delhi rape and killing  has led to widespread protests and a general increase in awareness regarding the treatment of women in India. At a very macro level, these protests (although sometimes seemingly direction less) are important and will certainly get the ear of the lawmakers and hopefully there will be some changes. But, it is crucial to realise that punishment and retribution is not going to solve a problem whose roots lie very deep in the psyche of the Indian society. The important fallout, more than knee jerk legislative changes, would be to prolong a slow dialogue that has started questioning this (the link to The Hindu has quite a few articles on this). 

Apart from waiting for laws that deter rape, a few changes from us, the individuals that make up the society is needed. This pertains to the way we react to violence in general and gender based violence in particular. From a personal point of view I feel sad that I have not regularly practised what I am going to suggest below but this is as much a blog as a note to myself! 

a). When you see any kind of bullying, be it towards a fellow male or female, stand up for the person. Call 100, raise your voice or use physical force if the need be. Don't be a bystander however harmless the bullying seems to you. Such behaviour especially in the case of eve-teasing is the starting point for much worse behaviour. If someone thinks they can get away with that, it emboldens them. I have resolved to learn some martial art for self-defence seriously to combat such stupidity.

b). Women need to find creative and efficient ways to protect themselves. Here is a nice home made recipe! It has been shown time and again in the case of crime research that the way one carries oneself makes a huge difference to whether you are targeted or not. When you know that you can give it back to someone intending harm, it makes you that bit more confident and that should act as an extra deterrent. 

c). Actively talk to and enlighten bigots and sexists. These could be people close to you (your family) or your friends. Be vocal in expressing angst against wrong attitudes. For silence may be taken as a sign of condoning. 

Hope things get better!

Vasantrao

Kuruntokai

Only the dim-witted say it's evening
when the sun goes down
and the sky reddens,
when misery deepens,
and the mullai begins to bloom
in the dusk.

But even when the tufted cock
calls in the long city
and the long night
breaks into dawn,
it is the evening:
even noon
is evening,
to one who has no one.

Translation by Shri. A.K. Ramanujan, Poems of Love and War
original verse by Milaipperun Kantan, Kuruntokai 234.

colours

listen to them,
their constant sympathy,
you feel anger,
red for you


jump once, jump twice,
jump so high,that you may fly
what did you (not) touch
blue for you

walk through the woods,
the wind blows gently,
grass and the foliage,
green for you

sit down,
stop thinking, stop feeling,
stop touching, stop breathing,
what do you see?
black for you

DKP

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Jon B Higgins

In Memory of Jon Borthwick Higgins The editors and the Board of Directors of The Society for Asian Music dedicate this issue of Asian Music to the memory of Jon Higgins. Jon Higgins had been a member of the Society since the late 1960s, had served on the board from 1978 to 1983, and had sung two concerts of karnatak music for the Society, the first in the 1979 concert series, the second as a memorial performance for Konrad Bekker. In the tragically brief period of his professional life, Jon Higgins set high standards to emulate and accomplished much, as a musician, scholar, teacher, and administrator. We will sorely miss his efforts in all of these areas, and we will always remember the versatility, skill, richness, and beauty of his song. His teacher and colleague at Wesleyan University, Dr. T. Viswanathan, has kindly allowed us to reproduce the following memorial essay, which originally anpeared in the February-March issue of Sruti (Madras, India). In addition, the essay following Dr. Viswanathan's was written by Karaikudi S. Subramanian, whose doctoral work at Wesleyan Jon Higgins directed. Dr. Viswanathan's essay: It was a grey, chilly morning around 9 o'clock, Friday December 7th, 1984. Jon Higgins rushed into my house carrying his cassette recorder, folders containing sheets of svara-notated music, and his electronic sruti- box. We sat together cross-legged on the rug preparing to begin our music lesson, but first turned to a discussion of our forthcoming trip to South Africa (sponsored by the Indian Academy of South Africa, Durban) and to the political problems there that warranted some concern. Jon expressed his feelings as to why he thought we should take the opportunity to per- form in such a troubled area, particularly stressing that our concerts should only be performed in non-segregated auditoriums. He at least wanted to show the South African government that his ensemble was a multi- racial one and was thus a small but sincere protest against the racist policy of apartheid. We eventually came to a tentative agreement about the trin and began work on a Tamil kriti, Adinadeppadiyo, in kalyani raga, adi tala, comoosed by Muttuttandavar. Jon liked the song because he felt lFthad "the depth and majesty of a Muttusvamy Dikshitar kriti." Since it wasn't a Dikshitar kriti, he wondered what elements were responsible for giving it that character. My response was to say that although the lyrics (sahitya) were composed by Muttuttandavar, the tune (the original being lost) was set by my teacher, the late Sri T.N. Swaminatha Pillai, who belonged to the Dikshitar school. Jon indicated his desire to learn more Tamil pieces of this type for the South African tour, and we finished the lesson at 10:30 a.m., after which he said he would meet me again on Monday. The next morning (Saturday, December 8th) around the same time, I had a phone call from his wife Rhea saying that Jon had been killed on Friday night by a drunken hit-and-run motorist while walking his dog on the road across from his house. 1 In keeping with tradition, it is not common for an Indian teacher to speak in praise of his student or sishya, Jon Higgins was an unusual individual. As a Westerner he committed himself to long and serious study of a music foreign to his own culture. Even more striking was the fact that he became an accomplished performer in that culture. Because of the unique circumstance of our relationship, then, I do not feel hesi- tant to break with tradition and allow myself the chance to write my feelings about him. Jon was born on September 18, 1939, in Andover, Massachusetts, a samll town in New England. He had his high school education at Phillips Andover Academy, where his father taught English for three or four decades and his mother taught piano and performed as an accompanist. After Andover, he attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he received his B.A., as a double major in music and history in 1962, his M.A. in musicology in 1964, and his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology in 1973. I first met Jon in 1962 when he was a Master's candidate under Dr. Robert E. Brown, who was responsible for initiating the Indian music program at Wesleyan. It was because of Brown's fine taste in music and gift of generating interest and enthusiasm in his students that Jon was first exposed to and captured by the music of South India. Only a few months before our acquaintance, he had been deeply touched by a perfor- mance of my sister Balasarasvati, when she had sung and danced at Ted Shawn's famous Jacob's Pillow music and dance festival in Lee, Massachu- setts. In an interview for Capitol Records, Rory Guy quotes from Jon that the role of music in Balasarasvati's performance impressed him "forcefully," that it "was not mere accompaniment to a dancer, but rather the living source of the dance itself." Jacob's Pillow and selected tapes from Robert Brown's collection convinced Jon to focus on Brown's South Indian music study group at Wes- leyan where, between 1962 and 1964, he participated in survey courses and seminars in ethnomusicology and in the music of India. He studied solkattu with my brother Ranganathan (the result of which was a Master's thesis), and was for the first time involved in vocal classes where he learned exercises and compositions from lesson tapes I had made for Brown in 1960. In a 1971 interview for the Times Weekly, Jon said that "although the Carnatic idiom was totally new and different, I felt I could with perseverance and dedication, understand its language." Com- mitting himself to the idea of full-time study of Karnatak vocal music, Jon approached me with the request that I accept him as a student, and when I agreed, he applied for and received a Fulbright scholarship to come to India in 1964. When he arrived in Madras, he came to see me at Madras University where, at the time, I was head of the Department of Indian Music. I was a little apprehensive about how I was going to help a young "Connecticut Yankee" with his projected nine-month course of South Indian music study. Disguising my uneasiness, we drew up a rough schedule through which he would learn an assortment of compositions covering song forms of important composers, basic improvisation, basic work in general theory, and language study in Telegu and Tamil. We fixed a date and I asked him to come for his first vocal lesson in my 2 office at 11:00 a.m. He arrived on the appointed day at 11:05 a.m. Having lived in the United States for a couple of years and having often heard the comment that Indians are never punctual, I was carrying a chip on my shoulder big enough to cancel the lesson and demand that he come on the next scheduled day, and on time. Over the years we often laughed at that incident. Until his death, however, he would always call me if he was going to be late for a lesson--just to make sure. I, on the other hand, had long since slipped back to my old habit of being on "Indian Standard Time." Over the months that followed, Jon learned a number of compositions with the sensitivity of a good Indian student. The Madras December music season had come and gone, and the Tyagaraja Aradhana Festival was iminently approaching. I felt that at this stage of his progress he should sing whatever he had learned at the Tyagarajasvamy's samadhi and receive the saint's blessings. Alattur Subbayyar, the festival secretary at that time, was in support of the idea. When we went to Tiruvaiyaru, Jon was very frightened and nervous at the thought of facing thousands of rasikas. H suffered even more when he was told that his short performance would be broadcast nationally on All India Radio. The day he was to go on stage he was a physical and mental wreck. But the audience was delighted, and they listened to his performance with amazement. They were even more astounded that a foreigner could take such interest in the art music of South India, and that he could sing so well and with such bhava and sincere bhakti. What they did not know was that even with his great talent, how hard and with how much commitment he had worked for over two years. When people said that he must have been born on the banks of the Kaveri River in his previous birth, Jon took it as a complement but knew the truth lay in his long hours of devoted practice. Jon continued to work hard learning progressively more complicated compositions, and slowly I introduced him to manodharma sangita (improvi- sation). In 1966, the United States Information Service recognized his contribution as a "cultural ambassador" and a concert tour of South India was arranged for him with V. Thyagarajan (violin), T. Ranganathan (mri- dangam), and V. Nagarajan (kanjira). Jon also recieved invitations from sabhas in Bombay, New Delhi, Calcutta, and other big cities, and wherever he performed he was appreciated with warmth and acceptance. His Fulbright scholarship was extended for an unprecedented third year when that organi- zation realized the contribution he was making to promoting cross-cultural understanding, and that he needed to continue his music studies in order to improve. Toward the end of 1966, when I had to leave India for my Ph.D. course work at Wesleyan, I wanted to leave Jon with someone who could provide continuity in our family (Dhanammal's) style. My choice was the late Ramnad Krishnan, under whom he studied for the remaining number of months before his return to the United States in June 1967. After Jon's return to the United States, I frequently and fondly recall how we would attend classes and study for our Ph.D. qualifying exams together. We would spend long hours exchanging notes and informa- tion where he would help me with Western music theory and history, and I would help him with Indian culture and music theory. (And I can never 3 forget his loving assistance in finally helping me edit and revise my Ph.D. dissertation in 1974.) Our relationship grew to the point where we considered each other "family," and when Jon decided to get married in October of 1967, he requested that his in-laws-to-be and his parents allow a concert of Indian music the night before the wedding. Ramnad Krishnan, V. Thyagarajan, T. Ranganathan, V. Nagarajan (all of whom had just arrived in the United States), Nageswara Rao (vina), and I performed, and I couldn't help but be reminded of a janavasam (bridal reception the night before a wedding) in South India. Two years after his marriage, Jon returned to India with his wife Rhea to begin work on his doctoral dissertation, "The Music of Bharata Natyam." Under Balasarasvati's guidance he learned dance music (padams and javalis), a practical approach to the theory of rasa, aspects of nayaki-nayaka bhava, and other performance-related topics. With the help of Bala's nattuvanar, K. Ganesan (son of Bala's guru, Sri Kandappa), he made a comprehensive study of the rhythmic compositions that are part of the Bharata Natyam repertoire. A year later, Balasarasvati gave him the honor of accompanying her dance performance in New Delhi. Jon made a great impression on thousands of music lovers throughout India. He concertized extensively, mostly accompanied by V. Thyagarajan, T. Ranganathan, and V. Nagarajan. He was also honored by the accompani- ment of great artists such the late Palghat Mani Ayyar and Palghat Raghu, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Trichy Sankaran, and Karaikkudi Mani, to name a few. He drew a devoted following of Indian rasikas in the United States as well, where T. Ranganathan and I usually provided accompaniment. For American audiences, Jon was always particular to present well-crafted lecture/demonstrations so that those hearing Karnatak music for the first time could listen to his concerts with some understanding and apprecia- tion. But like all of us, he felt that despite his popularity and success, he had much more to learn--and he was constantly working towards that goal in spite of his limited time and energy. Jon visited India for the third time as a Senior Research Fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies, between December 1981 and June 1982. Part of his project was to perform before critical Indian rasikas and esteemed Karnatak musicians so that he might receive an honest apprai- sal of his progress. He worked very hard for several months learning new compositions. He also spent a great deal of time developing fresh ideas for improvising. Unfortunately, in the midst of his visit, he fell ill with bronchial pneumonia, followed by pleurisy and a gall bladder infec- tion, and he was forced to cancel many of his concerts. Only because he was so disappointed and frustrated about not performing was he able to summon the energy to do a few concerts in Madras, Bangalore, and Bombay, and to make a cassette tape for the AVM company. (Previously, he had made three long-playing commercial records.) On the whole, the trip was a very depressing one for him, and he was looking forward to returning and performing under better circumstances. Most rasikas in India knew Jon as "Bhagavatar," but few knew of the 4 responsibilities he shouldered, in his professional life as a teacher and administrator, and in his personal life--qualities that in addition to his music, I feel made him an extraordinary human being. Between 1971 and 1978 he was Professor of music and Associate Dean of Fine Arts at York Univer- sity in Toronto, Canada. During his tenure at York he was responsible for inviting Trichy Sankaran, who joined him on the faculty as professor to teach mridangam. With the help of Sankaran, Jon propagated Karnatak music throughout Canada. He joined Wesleyan University as the Director of the Center for the Arts and Professor of music in 1978. He was constantly striving to broaden the range of cultural presentations in and outside the university community, and he had recently completed an intensive report with three other faculty members, projecting the future of the university curriculum. The energy he devoted to this study more than reflected his concern and commitment toward the future direction of the institution with which he was intimately connected. As a member of the music faculty he was constantly preoccupied with strengthening the quality of Wesleyan's ethnomusicology program. His workdays were officially from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but commitments related to his administrative position required many additional hours in the week. His role in the university combined with his sense of civic awareness involved him in numerous cultural activ- ities in the community. In the midst of such a pressured schedule, he maintained a very deep relationship with his family, always putting aside time to nurture his role as a husband and father. His generosity and warmth touched so many people, I feel it appropriate to include the following tributes: Jon had remarkable qualities. He was an unpretentious artist. He loved to give his gift to others. He sang in the choir of the First Congregational Church, even though his voice was far better than anyone else's. He was generous with his time and with his talent in the community. (Carl Scheibe, Professor of Psychology, Wesleyan University) (Jon Higgins) loved and was a superb singer of European and American classical vocal music. Although he sang music by virtually all the famous European composers--from Handel and Bach to Haydn and Mozart, and to such later composers as Faure, Brahms and the American Charles Ives--perhaps his art placed him closest to music of the European Renaissance and Medieval eras. Such composers as Machaut, Josquin, Palestrina, and Monteverdi were extremely compatible to him. His vocal style contained great concern for words, for rhythmic phrase, and clear articulation within a beautiful and expressive sound. One thinks, by way of comparison, of the Swiss, Hugh Cuenod, and of the American, Roland G. Hayes--both singers whose art lent itself to the intimately expressive music... By virtue of his training in intellectual history and music scholarship, and his extraordinary familiarity with Karnatak music and dance, he was uniquely qualified to speak to the American scholarly community about Indian music. (Richard Winslow, Professor of Music, Wesleyan University) 5 Jon had decided, a few months before he died, to return to full time teaching, performing, and writing about Western and Karnatak music. In order to accomplish this, he had planned to resign his job as Director of the Center for the Arts. His plans included the development of a course on traditions of vocal music around the world. That such a dynamic and sensitive person, who had so much more to give, should be deprived of life, strikes one as a cruelty beyond comprehension. We can be thankful for his contribution to the world of music, but most important is the legacy he left of promoting cultural understanding through the arts. For a man with a conscience in a troubled world, Jon gave some- thing great. It is my hope that he will be remembered in his role as a "cultural ambassador"--that perhaps interest will be generated in the United States and in the governments of India and Tamilnadu, to establish a scholar- ship fund in his name so that students (both Indian and non-Indian) will be encouraged to pursue the kind of serious study of Karnatak music that Jon undertook. A New York Times music reviewer wrote of him: "Even if some of this vocal maze of India can be admired by the Western listener, presumably there are not many Western singers who would attempt to work within its demands. One who did, and triumphed at it, was Jon Higgins." (New York Times, December 10, 1984) 6

Source: Asian Music, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Spring - Summer, 1985), pp. 1-6
Published by: University of Texas Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/833771
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Vadavarayai

1

வடவரையை மத்தாக்கி  வாசுகியை  நாணாக்கிக்  கடல்வண்ணன்  பண்டொருநாள்  கடல்வயிறு  கலக்கினையே  

கலக்கியகை யசோதையார்  கடைகயிர்ரால்  கட்டுண்கை  மலர்க்கமல  உந்தியாய்  மாயமோ  மருட்கைத்தே 

2

அருபொருள்  இவனென்றே  அமரர்கணம்  தொழுதேத்த  உறுபசி _ஒன்று  இன்றியே  உலகடைய  உண்டனையே  

உண்டவாய்  கலவினான்  உரிவேன்னே  உண்டவாய்  வண் துழாய்  மாலையாய்  மாயமோ  மருட்கைத்தே 

3

திரண்டமரர்  தொழுதேத்தும்  திருமால்னின்  செங்கமல  இரண்டடியான்  மூவுலகும்  இருள்தீர  நடந்தனையே  

நடந்த அடி பஞ்சவர்க்குத்  தூதாக  நடந்த  அடி  மடங்கலாய்  மாறட்டாய்  மாயமோ  மருட்கைத்தே 

4

மூவுலகும்  ஈரடியான்  முறைநிரம்பா  வகைமுடியத்  தாவிய  சேவடி   செப்பத்  தம்பியோடும்  கான்போந்து 

 சொமரனும்  போர்மடியத்  தொல்லிலங்கை  கட்டழித்த  சேவகன் சீர்  கேளாத  செவி என்ன  செவியே  திருமால் சீர்  கேளாத  செவி என்ன  செவியே 

5

பெரியவனை  மாயவனைப்  பேருலகம்  எல்லாம்  விரிகமல  உந்தியுடை  விண்ணவனைக்  கண்ணும் 

 திருவடியும்  கையும்  திருவாயும்  செய்ய  கரியவனைக்  காணாத  கண்ணென்ன  கண்ணே  கண் இமைத்துக்  காண்பார்தம்  கண்ணென்ன  கண்ணே 

6

மடம்தாழும்  நெஞ்சத்துக்  கஞ்சனார்  வஞ்சம்  கடந்தானை  நூற்றுவர்பால்  நாற்றிசையும்  போற்றப்  படர்ந்து  ஆரணம்  முழங்கப்  பஞ்சவர்க்குத்  தூது  நடந்தானை  ஏத்தாத  நாவென்ன  நாவே  நாராயணா  ஏன்னா  நாவென்ன  நாவே 

திரு இளங்கோ அடிகள்,  சிலப்பதிகாரம் 

நன்றி http://www.karnatik.com/c1473.shtml

What was that?

DIA to LGA
Flushing meadows crazy..!
turnstiles and baggage
phone call
Taxi to Manhattan....
4th avenue (114th avenue?)
Latte and Milan Kundera
The twenty block run up and the run down
meet talk coffee
times square....kids? Lights people craziness..the giant wheel
food; awesome...ethiopian honey wine
Columbia..Jschool Pulitzer Sylvia Nasar
Instructions...old friends mexican champagne mojito
sleep message Manhattan
crazy line for the statue
walk through, bulls anti-towers...
THE bridge
meet again, Latte photos
Korean khimchi; the greatest red sauce ever made?
church, beautiful...Jamaican and Obama
10 seconds of fearlesness...answer...silence...answer
Harlem...metro and craziness (114th or 14th)
drive through FDR...THE lights across the river, beauty in the beast?
shitty bus, crazy film maker..smelly co passenger, the wait..the answer

Two days huh? :)

Calcutta Musings

Well! it is the same old story, I have yet again failed at maintaining a log book/ diary! So here it is some typically disjointed musings about my two weeks stay at IACS Kolkata.

The guest house was way beyond my expectations, completely air conditioned with a TV on which I could actually watch the French Open (Federer won, YES!) Luxury yeh

was working on saturday morning but ventured out to a mall (South city mall)in the evening. The area around Jadavpur is so new and it reminds me of most Indian cities I have been to, very synthetic, efficient and bereft of any history, but there are malls and you can people watch. There is a coffee day in the top most floor and made a mental note to comeback there!

Sunday was interesting, made a very ambitious plan based on a New York Times travel report to go around many parts of Kolkata but found out to my horror that the reporter most definitely had a car or was splurging on taxis, which is something I would hate to do :-P Either way I ended up going to the very grand and beautiful Victoria Memorial and the museum inside was awesome. Moved to the GPO from there but obviously the post office and the post museum are closed on Sunday :-p! Either way lots of beautiful colonial buildings, trams around Dalhousie square. Sunday afternoons are pretty empty there. Moved on to college street, most book shops were shutting down and most of them seemed to deal with academic books. I wish I could go back there at a better time and find some rare books. The day ended with a satisfying visit to The Coffee House. I instantly liked the place! The only issue was that I was alone and did not have enough people to argue or Adda with :) There was this quasi-irritating pro-communist doctor on my table who kept badgering south India and tamils with his ignorant comments (he felt there were many wine shops in Chennai because Tamil women were not beautiful and one needed alcohol to ignore this fact and marry them)...I felt a lot of pity for that ignorant b***ard!

The coffee was ok (not filter coffee)...but the vegetable pakoda was fantastic.

Discovered some great local food over the next week, which was mostly spent on work in the library. Egg rolls are heavenly and dhokar dalna is one veg bengali dish that has less potatoes than usual...great. I was tired of the indian chinese food which seems very popular in this part of Kolkata, so resorted to some ready made maggie food for the evenings.

Have to mention a couple of things about IACS, great insti with lots of good people (almost everyone is Bengali)..a tad red-taped by bureacratic hassles. The librarian reminded me of my middle school teachers. Very strict on the outside adhering to some irrational principles but persistent request and you can get things done :) the funniest rule in the library was the no personal footwear or use one of the slippers we provide rule. Most of the library staff were friendly (by the way the library was my office during the visit). My only grouse was that it shut down by 7:00 in the evening and I had to go someplace else to work. By the last week some of the graduate students at IACS became good friends and one of them went to the extent of giving me an office space to work after 7:00. These students were among the most motivated students I have seen anywhere, they practically live in their offices doing physics and enjoying life :) Antother interesting incident happened during lunch one of the days. Some middle aged guy approached me and asked me if I was related to Vishy Anand (due to my countenance), I told him I could barely play chess and would be very proud if I was even remotely related to the genius. This was a first, was strangely happy.

Went back to the mall on friday to meet a friend, went to CCD as I had promised myself. They are the best coffee chain in India, very reasonably priced and you know that they care about coffee. She also showed me the one book store in the mall (LandMark style) and I grabbed Amitav Ghose's Calcutta Chromosomes, I was feeling a bit orphaned without anything to read in the nights. This book is pretty interesting, I am halfway through.

Went to meet another family to deliver some stuff from their relatives in Canada, who happen to be my first friends in Canada. This house was brilliant, very old fashioned and Bengali, like it was out of Parineeta's sets. Went to Esplanade from there. Man take Ranganathan St, multiply area by 4 and increase people density by 10 times and you get Esplanade on a Sunday night. I was not into shopping so quicky headed to Park St. The Oxford Bookstore is great there, bought some books. Milan Kundera and Mukul Kesavan and settled for a quite supper at the near by Street pub. Very satisfying Saturday. Sunday was spent working in the afternoon at a Barista cafe, was good since I got some work done after a while :)

The next week was spent on working and trying hard to get some shape to the problem we were interested in. But wednesday was good since I had a chance to meet S, my undergrad mate and a person who I look up to in many ways. I went to the Howrah station to catch him on his way to Allahabad. He is working on a HEP pheno PhD. Crossing the Howrah bridge was breathtaking. I have watched it on TV and movies but nothing can capture what I felt (did not take my camera, I am losing faith in that medium and my memory :-P). We chatted up quite a bit, lot of catching up to do. I always come out of a conversation with S feeling happy. We then tried to sneak up to the first class waiting room that had a lovely view of Howrah and the river but the sentry shooed me away since I was not a passenger. Felt bad but this sort of forced us into getting out of the station and taking a boat ride on Hooghly. Sunset, great breeze, two bridges......Bliss! I felt satisfied.

Did not do much after wednesday, came back to Madras on Friday...home sweet home. I promised myself that I would spend more time in Kolkata the next time round.

Calcutta Diaries 1

28 May Thursday

Arrived in Kolkata on the 28 th morning at 11. The flight by Indigo was comfortable but I was pretty tense, I guess I am still a huge nube with air travel. also the pilot wanted to land in the main runway but did not get clearance and hence was forced to land in a alternate runway, this contributed to my tension too! Got a prepaid taxi to Jadavpur, was a breeze, the taxi system should be implemented with Madras autos...taximan was on Mr.Ali, told him sheepishly that I could follow Bangla but did not speak any Bangla. asked for running commmentary on the route, found the parts near the airport to be small townish, reminded me of Trichy strangely but soon Ali showed me a Macdonalds (man the americanos want to make the world uniformly shitty :-P)! Not many surprises, Aila has smothered the suburbs. Madipakkam and Velachery need not feel special, all suburbs are meant to be f**ked when it rains. Ali strongly advises to first visit the Kali Bari before beginning my tour of the rest of Central Kolkata, strange considering he is probably a muslim. Kali must be a secular symbol of Calcutta....Ali was happy about the recent electoral reverses of CPM since he is a long time Congress supporter....Damn phone does not work, got a Calcutta phone later...reached IACS and met KS and we almost immediately launched into discussion of what we will work on, interesting stuff ahead....Had great lunch and followed it up with a nap...damn the jet lag, 2 days in Chennai helped but still tired around 4 in the evening...follow it up with excellent chinese dinner at Bawarchi (is this the Sunil Shetty chain??) sadly no hyderbadi biryani on the menu and even if there was my veggie brain might have missed it...the guest house is brilliant, ac and also tea, breakfast in the morning! Crash at 1:00...oh and Kolkata's humidity is very different from Chennai's, Chennai seems drier compared to here, the herr Mayo was right! :)

 

29 May Friday

Great day, good breakfast. Met a grad student from S's group at HRI. Discuss what's going on in grad schools here and also how computing facilities can be improved to tackle the massive needs of the particle physics community post LHC results...work at the library in the morning,followed up with long lunchtime meeting with KS, task identified. Afternoon was ok, still jet lagged and had roadside chai later. Got out around 7, called old friend A...he is part of corporate India now and decide to randomly join him for a Salsa party in the night...Salsa party was pretty loud, lots of very beautiful women and men who dance well.. was mere onlooker, what can you do when you have 200 left feet? had good dinner, couple of beers, the lounge was generally nice, very swish.somewhere near Park Street I am told (fort knox is the name of the building)....notice that I had passed through Shakespeare Sarani...it happens only in Kolkata I believe :) notice lots of police presence on the way back near Park street etc, post Mumbai attacks any place frequented by non-Indians seems to be recieving attention, I would probably increase police protection everywhere, infact protecting citizens must be the first goal.....Satisfying day all in all, crash for a 'good' night's sleep!

Of bees, newton's law and the nature of intelligence

I saw a bee today inside the bus on the way to work. It was desperately trying to run away from the "monster" chasing it, nothing but the back wall of the bus. Now the question that arose in my mind was, why did the bee not slip right down to the floor of the bus? Does it not realise it need not run away from anything then? (of course some dumb-ass might step right on it but in the physicist bee's world, buses are full of vacuum :) )
This led me to the question that if the bumble bee realised this aspect of survival, does it mean that it has learnt Newton's laws? It is fascinating to think if one can do this bee in the bus experiment in a controlled environment to "teach" them Newton's law. This opens doors to many questions including whether there are clever bees, dumb ones etc. This can throw more light on to a often quoted (or mis-quoted) "herd" behaviour amongst smaller animals. Finally, the article about teaching Newton's law for robots which led me to this line of thinking:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090403/jsp/frontpage/story_10767237.jsp

beautiful!

Can you bring together  Moulin Rouge, Mera Naam Joker, Isha Sherwani, Hrithik Roshan and more colours! Yes we can says Zoya Akhtar, take a look at this awesomeness (I usually do not fall for bollywood movie numbers but the choreography in this song is breathtaking!)

இனி என் சிந்தனைகளை தமிழில்க்கூட வெளியிட வாய்ப்பளித்த  கூகளுக்கு நன்றி!

The female god

one thought

touch, smile and yes

a new life

where am I,

where would I have been?

Watch Out

As the year draws to close, I have to admit it has been one of the most fulfilling year for an Indian cricket nut! It is strange that although there has not been a single big win but a set of confident victories (yes, I did call the Aussie bashing series win in India not a single big win). Many a time in the past Indian teams have achieved some big wins but they proved to be flash in the pan and the manner of the team was more of the underdog winning against the odds. Dhoni's men seem to truly understand that they have it in them to be the best team in the world. On this note I think it is a good opportunity to list the set of people (yet to prove themselves) who will contribute to making this team the best and also the set of people who will fight to ensure this does not happen, Watch out for:
Batters:

Rohit Sharma --- The next big thing after Sachin from Mumbai? His temparament is often under question but talent wise he is in line to be a master batsman.

Shaun Marsh ---- This Aussie guy has cricket in his blood and he can hit the ball as far as anybody has ever done, ask the IPL watchers! With the emergence of attacking batsmen like Sehwag as central performers in test cricket, Shaun Marsh is an ideal Test batsman in the new era.

J.P. Duminy --- This guy is a proven ODI performer who has come of age with a gutsy performance in one of the most demanding places to play cricket. He seems to ooze with confidence that stems from having played international cricket for a while. South Africa's middle order is secure in such hands.

Bowlers:

Ishant Sharma: The find of the year for India, what can one say, finally India have a true fast bowler who is also ready to slog it out irrespective of the conditions. As some believe this may be his greatest advantage and possibly a factor that can burn him out. Well, forget what happens later, let us relish him as long as he lasts!

Amit Mishra: This guy is a proven performer at the domestic level and shone against the Aussies. He is a gutsy old fashioned leggie who can turn the ball. He has to take a leaf out of the accuracy book that was the domain of his erstwhile captain, Jumbo.

Dale Steyn: He has proven himself at the international level, but South Africa's future is tied to whether he can be consistent like Donald & co.

Paul Harris: Again a spinner who does not mind tossing it up. He has to come to the party to make South Africa a worthy successor to Aus and a regular challenger for India.

Mitchell Johnson: He, along with Zaheer Khan, has effectively made sure that Wasim Akram will not be the last left arm great to grace the game. His discipline and craft promises a long successful career.

Australian Spinner: What? Aussie spinner? I think I will have to leave this blank but I will fill this place with another spinner who can single handedly take his country to the top, Ajantha Mendis. This guy is a freak in the true sense of the word, if things go right he could be the most unconventional success cricket has ever produced.

All in all, the next decade is going to be a great one for cricket watchers and I hope twenty twenty does not eat up test cricket!

Decembers in Madras

As I listen to MMI's rendition of Rangapuravihara, I am flooded by memories of many a December night of sleeping in the balcony where the gentle breeze put me to sleep. Mornings would dawn before the sun came out, MSS's version of the same song gently wafting in from the speakers of the nearby temple, coupled with the blissful aroma of fresh coffee from the kitchen. Evenings would be spent on more music from the 'season'. Madras in December is closest to heaven on earth :)

Jumbo!

Thankyou Anil Kumble for showing the world that the only indispensable quality to achieve greatness is the willingness to toil for it. If there was any cricketer whose commitment has never been under the scanner even for a passing moment, it has to be Jumbo. Time and again he has won matches for India single handedly and brought joy to the entire nation. He will continue to inspire a lot of cricketers and common men alike!