Warrier's Collage 26022021: Roots

Welcome to Warrier's Daily COLLAGE Friday February 26, 2021 (No Mind : Talk By Swami Sarvapriyananda) https://youtu.be/DkMRiiVJFWg (Link Selection: M G Warrier) Good Morning Paradox of our times Paradox, as we all know is a statement that seems to contradict itself, but may in fact be true.... In the past, as a Nonagenarian I had seen that I was in the midst of small things but enjoying in the midst of many people surrounded by me. Today it has become the reverse......... Reasons may be many but Happiness is missing... H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama analyses this as under..... We have bigger houses, but smaller families, More conveniences, but less time, We have more Degrees, but less Sense, More Knowledge, but less Judgement, More Experts, but still more Problems, More Medicines, but less Healthy people, We have been all the way to the Moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor, We built more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have become long on quantity, short on quality. These are times of fast foods, but slow digestion, Tall men but short character, Steep profits but shallow relationships, It is a time when there is much on window, but nothing in the room... Can we call this progress or our inefficiency in living a healthy life? How the future will be, we may not know as future has to evolve. It's for our present younger generation to visualize all these for a better living! V. T. Panchapagesan. Have a Nice Day M G Warrier M 134 A Interaction 1) S K Gupta Panchkula 'TRUST' may perhaps be abbreviated as under: T- Truthful R- Reliable U- Unquestionable S- Supportive T- Time-tested 2) V Babusenan Thiruvananthapuram Malayalam Poet Vishnunarayanan Namboothiri Vishnunarayanan Namboothiri has passed away. I heard this sad news from our Editor. One of the few bright points in my pretty long life is the acquaintance of this great humanist, scholar and poet. I cannot claim any friendship as I held him on a very high pedestal. My acquaintance began in 2002 when my book 'Bertrand Russell' was discussed in Vayana, a gathering of writers and book lovers in Thiruvananthapuram. He took a sincere interest in the book and I was touched. He had visited Greece and England and transmuted his reminiscences into a collection of beautiful poems. He gifted me a copy of this book. That gesture too touched me greatly. He was a very rare mix of the spiritual and the temporal. He served the Lord as a priest in the famous Vishnu temple of Thiruvalla. Orthodoxy raised a hue and cry when he crossed the ocean, but he did not bother. As a favourite student of Prof Sheppard, the revered Shakespeare authority of St Berchmans College, Changanasseri, he did justice to his master by being a top class English teacher in the University College, Thiruvananthapuram. He belonged to the celebrated band of teacher-cum-poets like G Kumara Pillai, Ayyappa Panikker and O N V Kurup He knew the Himalayas like the palm of his hands. Once he gave a talk to our residents association on his pilgrimages to this Nagadhiraja (monarch of mountains) with quotations from Kalidasa that still ring in my ears. May his soul rest in peace! (Please see H for the link to media report and link to a 7 year old recital of Vishnunarayanan Namboodiri's poem "Balyakalasakhi" by Kavalam Sreekumar-Collage) B Current Affairs 1) Oil Prices https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-editorials/oil-on-the-boil-governments-need-to-lower-fuel-taxes-before-economic-recovery-is-harmed/ (Link courtesy: V N Kelkar) And Times of India said in September 2019: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-editorials/oil-on-the-boil-saudi-oil-production-badly-hit-by-regional-strife-india-must-take-protective-economic-action/ Excerpts: "The most important lesson which the government needs to draw from this episode is that it’s essential to focus on the economy. It cannot afford to fritter away its enormous political capital on socially divisive issues. Fast-paced growth will create conditions which will overcome many of India’s economic as well as societal challenges. It will also provide space for India to pursue its larger strategic goals. The window for economic reforms provided by low oil prices may not last long. It’s for the government to use this rare sweet spot to push through reforms of the markets for factors of production such as land and labour." (Not so sure, whether those who wrote the edit on "Oil on the boil" yesterday remember the edit with the same caption published in the same daily in September 2019. Looks GOI hasn't forgotten-Collage View🙏) 2) Bad Bank: Follow up Business Standard reports: Bad bank may follow Swiss challenge method for price discovery of assets Anup Roy | Mumbai | Last Updated at February 25 2021 06:10 IST Excerpts: "The proposed ‘bad bank’, to be floated by the banking industry, will likely follow the Swiss challenge method for price discovery of assets, sources close to the development said. This means that even as an asset is transferred to the new asset reconstruction company (ARC) at a pre-agreed price, bids will be called later from others, and the highest bidder will get the asset. The model also prevents the amendment of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest....." 3) IT far from the crowd Success Story https://www.forbesindia.com/article/big-bet/cover-story-sridhar-vembus-vision-from-the-village/59833/1 Excerpts: "Zoho today provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) solutions and over 40 apps for, among other activities, online accounting, human resource and inventory management. A few of those products, including Zoho Desk, a customer service software, were built out of the Mathalamparai office, vindicating Vembu’s vision that you didn’t have to be in the urban hubs to develop world-class products." C Readers' Contribution 1) Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai A Tiny Guru Many people are born in Bombay, settle in USA, leave home at 7 30 A M and return at 8 30 night. Whether they achieve their organized goals or not, they don't give quality time to the family. They feel that life is imbalanced. They should observe the tiny ants which overcome the threatening obstacles. Whatever obstacles we place before an ant, it is so flexible that either it goes around, or under it or above it. Flexibility is a great quality in an ant. An ant never quits. It is focussed on its goal. Winners never quit; and quitters never win. An ant knows this well more than any human being. It has tremendous planning skills. While in summer, it plans for the winter. While in winter, it is extremely patient and waits for summer. However tiny it is, it never invalidates its strength. It is holistic and does all that is possible. It operates in TEAM. How does it know that a TEAM achieves more. Ants have humility to follow the leader. Ants, while moving in a chain, have perfect coordination to send feed back to the ants following, a perfect communication chain about the the path they are treading and of the pitfalls too. If everyone is flexible; If every one plans ahead; If everyone enjoys the present without imagining about the more joyous future; If everyone drops the 'I' and operates from the 'WE' platform, If every one is perfect in net working' Then results will speak. Ant is your Guru. A tiny but magnificent one. Vathsala Jayaraman (For further reading: a) Ant 🐜 Philosophy https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/ant-philosophy b) Dattatreya: Learning by observation https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/wisdom-from-the-moth-elephant-ant-fish-dattatreya) Panchapagesan responds: Treat ANT as our leader , Its unity, Its Zeal, Its Action, Its perseverance , Above all Its flexibility in action. Be Well, V. T. Panchapagesan (Those who have Amazon Prime membership can read my eBook "Ants and Honeybees" by accessing: Ants and Honey Bees: Life's Perceptions and Reflections https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07D9SKZXV/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_X7XVBBQNGZYBTQZ51AB2 M G Warrier) 2) V Babusenan Thiruvananthapuram Hemineglect When I took voluntary retirement on health reasons, giving up three years of service, my friends and well-wishers said that I should have 'somehow' continued in service. The lone voice that wholeheartedly agreed with my decision, besides my wife (who was secretly wanting to follow suit), was Vasanthi, my cousin sister. She said: "Your decision is apt in two ways: One is that the institution you served was so generous to you that you should do justice to it till the end of your service. The other is that, as life does not end with official retirement, one should have some energy left to feel and enjoy the long awaited freedom and rest." I took her hand in appreciation. Vasanthi was Vice Principal of a private college for women, well liked by both staff and students. She was lean, good looking, elegantly dressed and vivacious. She believed in the institution of God, but, unfortunately, not in the institution of marriage. In spite of persuasions, she remained single and lived with us as she secretly adored my wife Sumukhi (to me frequently she was not as her name suggested). My friend Sekhar Prasad was working with NIMHANS in those days. He wanted to be close with his mentor Dr V S Ramachandran, the internationally famous brain specialist who had settled in the US. Before leaving, he wanted to be with me for a couple of days. On seeing Vasanthi he said: "Senan, why do you allow this woman to stick on to you? Why couldn't she make a family unit and move out?" Vasanthi laughed. She asked: "You tell me first, why didn't you do the same?" "Vasanthi, you have no idea about the difficulty in setting up a practice." said Sekhar. "It needs undivided attention and continuous effort. I don't have the heart to throw a poor woman to isolation and sorrow." "Then, I too have problems, though of a different sort." said Vasanthi. "First of all, this man, your friend, is not as he looks. He does not take proper care of his wife. Next, like you, I am devoted to my work. If I really want, I can marry someone like you ,but I can't think of a life in Chicago or New York without a chance to listen to M S's 'Suprabhatham' or Leela's 'Agre Pasyami.'(All laugh) It took some years for Sekhar to get established as a brain specialist in Chicago. His name began to appear in the media and we were happy. Life went on generally eventlessly until, on one day, when Vasanthi fainted in her college. Her Sanskrit department was staging Kalidasa's 'Vikramorvaseeyam' and she was totally immersed in that. It was a grand success and she fell unconscious while thanking the gathering. It was a mild stroke and, after a few days in the hospital, she was well again, or we thought so. To our utter grief, we found her changed. She started ignoring her left side, including the left part of her own body. She still did her make-up but ignored her face's left part-hair, fore head, eyebrows, eyes and lips-as if that part of her face never existed. While eating breakfast, she ignored the idlies on the left side of her plate and the glass of water kept on her left side. In fact, she said one day: "Sumukhee, you are careless nowadays. Don't you know one has to drink water while eating?" We were upset and wished Sekhar were here. I was hesitating whether to telephone him or not. Then the telephone rang. It was Sekhar at the other end. "Senan, I will be in India early next week. I will go straight to Vilayannoor, my Guru's place on an important matter. On return, I shall be visiting you briefly. My enquiries to Sumukhi and Vasanthi." The phone was cut off before I could say anything. What a relief it was! Sekhar looked at Vasanthi from head to foot. "Why are you staring at me as if you are seeing a strange creature?" asked Vasanthi with slight irritation in her tone. "Listen, Vasanthi, listen, you all." He said with a smile. "You may not be feeling yourself, but others feel. You are having an after effect of the mild stroke you had. It had slightly damaged your right parietal lobe. We, doctors, call this condition 'hemineglect'. 'Hemi' in Greek means 'half.' If you get that condition, you will be neglecting your left side, including the left part of your body. You need not worry at all. I shall give you a prescription. Take the medicines for three months without fail. You will become all right. It is a good thing that holidays have begun." "Will you be coming again soon?"asked Sumukhi. "No chance. At the end of three months, the three of you may go to Alappuzha and meet my old friend at NIMHANS, Dr Krishnamurthi, who has recently set up a practice there. I shall talk to him. Vasanthi, for your kind information, a mini-Guruvayoorappan temple is coming up in Chicago, near my flat and they need a Sanskrit teacher. You may think about it at your leisure." 3) Do we say, Thank You Doctor?* An intern, with a bag of O negative blood, running eccentrically through the hospital corridor to make sure the blood reaches the OT on time. A junior doctor hunching over a patient's chest with all his strength trying to get a pulse. A surgeon who just identified the bleeder and ligated it. An obsteric surgeon who delivered a baby stuck by its own head. An anesthesiologist who got a bilateral air entry on a difficult intubation. A psychiatrist who sees his suicidal patient having a routine life. And many more such doctors. Each one of them in their own way saves a life everyday. Someone stays up whole night monitoring a patient's urine output. A father misses his daughter's first birthday to stitch up a wound. A son turns up last for the family dinner again after attending someone else's family's concern. We lose a lot of things that can never be bought back by money. And no one ever gives an appraisal.There is no best employee of the month.No badges.No stars. No one tells a doctor ap ke sath selfie le lu?But poses with Dhinchak Puja for the same. I have seen some of my seniors be on a duty for 96 hours straight,be perfect with managing 300 patients and yet be mocked for that one patient's BP they forgot to mention. And I have still seen them roam puppy eyed behind consultants wanting to hear one "good job" or have a pat on their back. But no one pats your back. No one tells you were a hero today. "It's your job.Well you chose to be a doctor.No one asked you to.Stop complaining." "Doctors charge so much and are so arrogant." "Dude they are killer's, man." There is a time you feel so demotivated that no one praises you for what you do.No one understands your effort. Except for that one thing. The cardiac monitor showing a pulse after a pulseless electrical activity. The flat line in the ECG showing a p wave. That is your appraisal. Your appraisal as a doctor is the life that you just saved. And when you realise you have the power to do so, there is nothing more addictive, nothing more sickening, maddening than medical science. You realise you lose your own life saving others, but every bit of it is worth the fight. No one pats your back, you pat your own back. You are your own hero. You wear your own cape and crown. You save your ownself and others. And if this is something you hate and still love to do, congratulations on being a doctor. We practice the real love THE LOVE OF LIFE. *Received from Dr T V Surendran Mananthavady D Art of Sleeping https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/vinyasagc/knowing-about-these-2-important-hormones-can-make-you-sleep-early-29889/ Posted online comments: easy to remember: melatonin and hgh taking hgh first: add i you get a high add it you get hight and melatonin: MelaTonIn two more tips: if you are using pillows stop using them if you are not using pillows start using soft low hight pillows. if doctor has advised not to use pillows, keep them by your sides!' E Sleep Mantras https://www.hindujagruti.org/hinduism/sleep-mantras Sleep mantras to be recited before sleeping A. यादेवी सर्वभूतेषु निद्रारूपेण संस्थिता । नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमोनमः ।। – Shridurgasaptashati, Adhyaya 5, Shloka 16 Meaning : I pay obeisance thrice to the Devi, who is present in all living beings in the form of nidra. Keep reciting this shloka. Gradually, the thought process will stop, a rhythm will set in and we will fall asleep in ten to fifteen minutes. B. Recite the following mantra to avoid nightmares. रामं स्कन्दं हनूमन्तं वैनतेयं वृकोदरम् । शयने यः स्मरेन्नित्यं दुःस्वप्नस्तस्य नश्यति ।। Meaning : Remembering Shriram, Kartikeya, Hanuman, Garuda and Bhima while going to sleep eliminates nightmares. F Leisure/Nostalgia 1) Shared by A P Ramadurai a) Putin's problem One fine morning, a trusted agent comes weary-eyed to Putin and says- "Mr. President, Please give me some other work. Yesterday I wished the British Premier on his birthday. It’s happening tomorrow. The other day same thing happened with the Japanese Premier. Only it had fallen on the previous day! The jet lag problem is too much for me." Putin replies-"Is that a problem? I just now sent a condolence message to Warsaw on the President’s death in an air crash. The flight is due this evening only. b) Yet another record... Long back-Music store owner boasting to a customer - "We are the largest sellers of music in India". Just then an L. P. record he was holding in his hands fell down and broke into pieces. "Look here," he says without batting an eyelid-"We have broken another record". 2) Nuts & Fruits R Jayakumar Mumbai It is widely understood that the Cashew, the coconut and the jackfruit belongs to Kerala. But these trees grow in many places. In Tamil Nadu the southern part of Thirunelvely District and the Kanyakumari District produce plenty of these fruits. I call them fruits because coconut is the fruit produced by coconut tree. In the school my science teacher told us that the Cashew fruit is not actually the fruit but the stem that holds fruit which is the nut. Likewise the special variety of bananas called Elaichi and Nendran kai are produced in plenty in Tamil Nadu and exported to Kerala and come to Mumbai as Kerala items. May be it is because everywhere you will find only keralites selling them. In Maharashtra and Goa the Konkan region produces coconuts, cashews and jackfruits. Vasai is also famous for supplying Elaichi kelas to Mumbai. Vasai is in the border of Maharashtra and Gujarat. I had a friend from Sawant Wadi in Konkan working with me in Central Office (even now we are good friends) who used to visit his home town every six months and bring for us all these items as gifts. Back to Cashew nuts when I was in the school one of the fiercely fought games among boys was hitting the cashew nut, generally fought between two boys. At the beginning of each round each one throws in two or three cashew nuts (unopened and dried) and the same are kept within a marked circle. Position is taken by both ten feet away from the circle and one of them asks the other to hit a particular nut within the circle aiming with a bigger nut from the distance. If the particular nut is knocked out the circle all the nuts are won by him. If he doesn't hit the other takes his turn. Game continues until one of them exhausts his stock. The loser can go home or buy from others six nuts per pie. I was a lefty and my aim was good and on holidays I would win up to twenty five nuts and at home we would roast them by burning dried palm leaves and eat the inside of the nuts to our hearts' content. My grandmother owned five cashew trees in her land all giving fruits (stems) in different colours and nuts (fruits) in different sizes. In Tamil we call it mundiri kottai, kottai meaning nuts and mundiri meaning coming first. When power generating wind mills invaded our region thirty years back all the trees were gone along with the land from the hands of the villagers. When I visited my dietitian last month she advised me to avoid totally cashew nuts as it doesn't help for weight loss. Even otherwise what I eat daily do not help for weight loss...... R Jayakumar G Quotes about sleep https://restonic.com/blog/quotes-better-sleep-2546 Like: "Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I’m reborn.” – Gandhi H OBITUARY Malayalam Poet Vishnunarayanan Namboodiri passes away https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/malayalam-poet-vishnunarayanan-namboothiri-passes-away-7204347/ https://youtu.be/IQs1EOzuFdM https://youtu.be/3fBO6hhU4YE