Warrier's Collage 22022021: Excerpts

Welcome to Warrier's Daily COLLAGE Monday February 22, 2021 Trichambaram Temple Festival https://youtu.be/vR_5SKCLrCw (Link Selection: M G Warrier) Hope you all had a great weekend Collage is skipping "Interaction" today. Some of the responses have been included at other places. M G Warrier M A Books (a) A book on Freelance Jóurnalism "Everything you wanted to know about Freelance Jóurnalism" co-authored by Kavita Rao and Charukesi Ramadurai (daughter of A P & Dr Prabha Ramadurai) http://charukesi.com/book/ Excerpts: "About the book Freelance journalism demystified! Do you want to be a freelance journalist, but have no idea where to begin? Or are you already a writer of sorts but want to see your name in the biggies? In “Everything You Wanted To Know About Freelance Journalism,” you will learn how to: 1. Prep yourself for this career 2. Come up with fresh and original story ideas 3. Find markets for your stories 4. Approach editors with confidence 5. Write a winning pitch 6. Research and write a feature 7. Negotiate pay and rights 8. Cope with rejection 9. Write for the foreign media 10. Market yourselves through social media and more… “Everything You Wanted to Know…” is filled with practical advice and real life examples from two journalists who have written for the biggest and the best. Editors from some of your dream publications, including The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic Traveller and Forbes, tell you how to succeed in the business. Top freelance writers reveal their secrets to getting published and making more money. And we hold your hand through the whole process." (I'll get my copy this week. Will share my thoughts after reading the book-Warrier) (b) Books by M G Warrier https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17770459.M_G_Warrier B Comfort in books : https://thg.page.link/AxC4qExrNy8H354w9 Excerpts: "We read to know we are not alone. We read because we are alone.” — this quote from The Storied Life of AJ Fikry (that I also read in this period) will forever stay with me, and is probably the best explanation why I started reading so much in this period. (A.J. Fikry*, voracious reader and bookshop owner, dies of brain cancer at the end of the book, just in case you were wondering.)" * Don't get confused. This is a character in the novel: https://www.npr.org/2014/03/28/294393870/in-storied-life-characters-come-with-a-reading-list C Current Affairs 1) FM on rising fuel prices https://m.businesstoday.in/story/petrol-diesel-price-rise-centre-states-should-talk-to-reduce-fuel-rates-says-fm-sitharaman/1/431834.html D Lead Story: By Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai Karma and Newton's 3rd Law Karma is the subtle version of Isaac Newton's third law. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". Two versions are quoted from Mahabharatha. After the Kurukshetra War, King Dhritarashtra asks Krishna why he was born blind and why his hundred sons all got killed. Krishna replied that fifty lifetimes ago he had been a hunter. He had shot an arrow in a forest which hit a nest, killing 100 young birds. The mother of the birds survived but was blinded by the arrow. In other words, Dhritarashtra was suffering the reactions to that act in the present lifetime. Krishna also explained that fifty lifetimes had passed before Dhritarashtra could experience the Karmic effect. In those 50 Janmas (Lives) he had to do so many punyas to beget 100 sons in the same janma. After getting 100 sons, the evil effect of hundred young birds came into force. This is the Law of Karma in action. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Whereas Newton's law is limited to physical forces, the concept of Karma extends to our actions, thoughts and feelings. The best way to define karma is that it is a causal relationship, a chain of connection, between our physical or verbal activities and thoughts. The corresponding reaction from the environment is described as our Karma. Here is the second version. After the Kurukshetra war, Lord Krishna along with the Pandavas went to meet Dhritarashtra and get his blessings. Seeing the Pandavas and Krishna, Dhritarashtra could not control his emotions. He burst out crying. “Why did such a thing have to happen to me O’ Krishna?” he asked. Both Lord Krishna and Yudhishtira, consoled him and he was pacified soon. He however, had a question for the Lord. Having been a good king to my subjects, where did I fail? Lord Krishna instead of replying him immediately said “Can we talk about something else for a change?” "Oh King! We have come to you now for your guidance. We have some doubts regarding the justice system." “What is your doubt Krishna?” I will tell you a story, Krishna went on. Our question lies inside this story. Once there was a king. He was a very good man and the law and justice system in his rule were impeccable. He lived according to the tenets of Hinduism and was a staunch vegetarian. However, the cook in his palace was a non-vegetarian and was an expert in cooking non-vegetarian meals. Especially, he was an expert in disguising his dishes in such a way that they would be unable to say if the dish was vegetarian or non-vegetarian. The cook suddenly had a desire to serve non-vegetarian food to the people in the palace and claim that it was vegetarian. He also had this urge to serve the king a non-vegetarian meal and make him eat it. The king raised several animals and rare birds in his grounds. He had a beautiful swan too in his collection. Daily it laid eggs and looked after its younglings. One day the cook caught hold of one of the younglings and cooked it in such a way that it resembled a vegetarian dish. He then served it to the king who relished it and said it was excellent. The cook was elated at his own creation and he daily tried a new dish and served it to the king. The king on his part praised the cook for his culinary skills and rewarded him. Ending the story here Lord Krishna asked the king “Oh King! This is our doubt: Who is the culprit here? Is the cook who cheated on the king or is it the king?" Dhritarashtra replied "Krishna, the cook is not the one to be punished. Whatever he did was to gain appreciation and reward from the king, which is a natural thing for minions. But the king should have been aware of the going-on around him. He should have observed what is going on and had an eye on his minions, failing which; he could lose his kingdom or his own life in the process. First, the king failed in his duty. Secondly, he got fooled by his servant. Third, he ate non-vegetarian food. Though these were not done knowingly, he is the one to be blamed. He has been responsible for the death of the bird in his own grounds. So the king is the one to be punished. Hearing this, Lord Krishna smiled. “Oh King! This is not a story, it is a true incident. The king mentioned in the story was you. In your earlier births you had done several good deeds for which you were rewarded with a good kingdom and a good family. But due to some failure of yours in this birth you were made to suffer by losing your sons. Since you were also a party to your sons’ faults, you are suffering now.” Dhritarashtra was dumbfounded. The Law of Karma is so complex that it involves multiple factors. Our life's fortunes are dependent on a number of factors, including: 1. Our Prarabdh Karmas. 2. Our Kriyamaan Karmas. 3. The Will of God. 4. The Karma of other people present in that situation. 5. Chance events -in which we happen to be present by accident. Children born with congenital defects become a curse to parents.The children may not even know about their ailments.The parents and the siblings suffer till the death of the ailing kids. Here the cumulative effect of the karmas done by all these people get congregated in a single place. A bigger example is natural calamites and train/plane accidents where hundreds of people are victimized. Whether we believe in Karma or not is a different subject. But when calamities affect us and we are struggling to survive, the Karmic theory is a plausible solution to reason out "Why me?' and enable us to come out of the winds and gain normalcy at the earliest. Even the non believers in Karma get consoled with this theory, though a myth according to them, to get over the crisis. As long as life goes normal with reasonable pin pricks, we may not bother about Karma theory etc. .Once it goes out of bounds, human mind tries to reason out and there comes the Karmic effect ready to console us. Vathsala Jayaraman S R Badrinarayanan's response: "Advancing Karma theory is resorted especially in times of sorrow and suffering to assuage the troubled mind. The cause and effect study too would provide some psychological relief. Newton's 3rd law, in particular, has wide acceptability.