Warrier's Collage: February 1, 2021

Welcome to Warrier's Daily COLLAGE Monday February 1, 2021 Experiencing Divine Presence : "Prayer and Meditation" https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/warriersviews/experiencing-divine-presence-prayer-and-meditation-14866/ (Link Courtesy : M G Warrier) 🙏🙏 M G Warrier History of Indian Budget The remarkable history of Budget - "The first Indian Budget - The Economic Times" https://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/the-remarkable-history-of-budget/the-first-indian-budget/slideshow/67528210.cms A Interaction 1) V N Kelkar Healing power of music Listening to favourite music at work can help us complete monotonus tasks quicker. Time flies when you listen to music. Music has been used to heal for many many years. Listening to music promotes production of an antibody that attacks viruses, bacteria and kills them. When you listen to music, your brain releases dopamine, the same neurotransmitter that is released when you eat chocolate. Whether you are walking, biking or running you will go farther if you are listening to music. Music distracts you from your discomfort. I have experienced happy feeling while taking dental treatment as light music goes on in the background. People come out with more creative solutions when they listen to music of their choice. Listening to music before bed can help you fall asleep faster. VNKelkar 2) V Babusenan Thiruvananthapuram In one of his books ('My Dateless Diary'I think) I read R.K.Narayan's description of what real coffee is. I wondered if so much could be said about it. Now I wonder if so much can be said about dosa. Quite interesting indeed! But when you come to jilebi, ladoo and halva, taking the cue from Shri Ramasubramanian, please show some mercy to chronic diabetics like poor Babusenan. (Everything you didn’t want to know about the RK Narayan book that no one reads anymore, but should" https://amp-scroll-in.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.scroll.in/article/735703/everything-you-didnt-want-to-know-about-the-rk-narayan-book-that-no-one-reads-anymore-but-should?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a6&usqp=mq331AQHKAFQArABIA%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16120625647085&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com ) B Nostalgia 1) Museum of memories : https://thg.page.link/rFrgnMLodwnfA6ZPA 2) "Life in Kerala’s cosy ancestral homes - The New Indian Express" https://www-newindianexpress-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/mindspace/2019/feb/20/life-in-keralas-cosy-ancestral-homes-1941199.amp?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a6&usqp=mq331AQHKAFQArABIA%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16120767551691&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newindianexpress.com%2Fopinions%2Fmindspace%2F2019%2Ffeb%2F20%2Flife-in-keralas-cosy-ancestral-homes-1941199.html C Readers' Contribution 1) Vathsala Jayaraman Indian Kitchen I think the plural of the word spouse is spice. I really don't know that many spouses make the life spicy! Coming to the spice in the kitchen, the first spice that comes to our mind is coriander (koththu malli). The name is derived from 'KORIS' the Greek word for bed bugs because the ancient Greeks thought the seeds smelt like the insect. Somehow we have to say that the bed bug smells like coriander and not the other way round. There are many people who still have aversion to coriander. Because the aldehyde molecules that are present in coriander are also present in soap. No wonder they are reminded of only soap while smelling coriander. So it matters where the smell comes from. Flavour is a combination of taste, smell, mouthfeel and sound and visual experience also. If we think about taste, our tongues have taste buds. It has been believed that the tip of tongue has more taste buds dedicated to detecting sweet and salty tastes more easily. Bitter taste is felt at the side of the tongue. Our ability to detect bitterness comes from the necessity to identify poisons which are normally bitter. However perception of taste depends on individuals. Indians may need at least 1.5 percent concentration by weight to taste acceptably salted whereas the westerners may find it more salty. A pinch of salt may enhance the sweetness. That is why many prefer jaggery, which contains a little salt, to prepare payasam. There is also a temperature range at which taste buds operate at their best level. From taste we come to the flavour detecting apparatus, the nose. Our olfactory cortex can recognize more than 10,000 uniques flavours. Do you know that in Scent labs in France, the chief analyst is designated as 'NOSE'. The tongue can detect tastes coming from water soluble molecules alone. The gnashing of teeth causes release of more flavour molecules that hit the receptors. When we smell before eating is nasal olfaction' and what we smell after chewing is 'retronasal olfaction'. That is why many food items which smell funny earlier, have amazing taste once we chew them. Smell is the only sense that goes straight to the brain's cortex. Olefactory nerve is situated nearer to the part of the brain dealing with emotions. That is why the food evokes nostalgia and memories. It is not only objective taste but fond memories reverborate. Now coming to the mouthfeel, the dense idli and airy idli are chemically the same and theoretically should taste the same way.But they dont.In addition to taste, our flavour detection apparatus distinguishes textures also. Cohesive, dense or heavy, dry or wet, grainy or pasty, rough or slippery, viscosity-all are detected. Cooking is not a collection of some grocery items and just heating, it has to cater to the commands and demands of many masters situated within ourselves. vathsala jayaraman 2) V Babusenan Thiruvananthapuram Carnatic Music "How can I ever forget my good friend Narayana Iyer who introduced me to the magic world of Carnatic Music during my brief stay in Chennai? The last lap of my official career was as Currency Officer, RBI, Chennai. Many will not disagree that it is a somewhat dull job. But, luckily for me, the tedium was relieved by the smiling face of Iyer from the very beginning. He was from a musically oriented family settled in Alappuzha, Kerala, and was distantly related to the well-known vocalist Dr Renganatha Sharma. He was then attached to the department connected with inspection of commercial banks. Every evening, just at the closing time, Iyer would come to my cabin humming a tune and with a folded 'The Hindu' of the day in his left hand. First he would ask me to identify the raga of what he hummed. Mostly I would be wrong and he would correct me in the pleasantest manner. Then he would unfold the paper and tell me whose concert and where on that evening and select the music hall to visit. Unlike most of the concert lovers, he had no particularly favourite vocalist. All stalwarts were personally known to him. It was from him that I learned more about the Trinity in Carnatic music and about the Tamil Isai movement. After each concert, Iyer would introduce me to the vocalists. Thus I got the good fortune of speaking, besides to Dr BMK Maharajapuram Santanam, D KJayaraman, Trichur Ramachandran and T.V.Sankaranarayanan. The last mentioned reminded me that he had a sishya working in the Reserve Bank. He was referring to Suryaprakash. After a brief appraisal of each concert, my friend would hire an auto and go straight to his flat in the Ashtalekshmi Apartments where his only daughter Parvathi (Iyer was a widower) would be waiting for him with his favourite masala dosa hot. I retired in 1990. While parting company, his eyes brimmed with tears and mine too. He retired next year and became fully active in music circles. During music seasons, he invited me to Chennai, but somehow, I couldn't go. He belonged to the first batch of friends who received complimentary copies of my first book.Then, the Great Time intervened.... One day I got a letter from Parvathi saying thus: "Dear Uncle, Your friend has recently undergone an emergency operation for the removal of a big growth in his brain.Though it was a complicated one, he survived with Lord Murugan's grace. The recovery has been fast and he seems to have returned to his former self. But Uncle, I am afraid, all is not well. The other day, George Uncle came here. Father was happy to see him and they talked for an hour. When he came back, just five minutes after saying goodbye, to take his shoulder bag, do you know what father did? He said with a broad welcome smile: "Happy to see you George. How long have I been missing you." George Uncle was stunned. Another thing: Everyday, he takes up your book and reads the first few pages. Each time he says he is reading it for the first time. I am worried, Uncle. Something has happened to him." I tried to console her as best as I could. Only a few days had passed. The shocking news came. My friend died of a massive heart attack. I narrated the story to Dr Sekhar Prasad when we next met. He listened to me carefully and then said :"Surgeons, occasionally, have to perform some painful task. What I mean is, they, sometimes , have to sacrifice some organ, partly or fully, to save a person's life. In the case of your friend Iyer, perhaps, the surgeons found, while removing the growth, that it was safer to remove the hippocampus too. It is an organ called so because it is shaped like a seahorse. The name is Greek. You know its function. It lays down fresh memories in the brain, but it is not where memories are stored. This very small organ, a member of the emotional centre of the brain called the 'Limbic system' is essential for learning anything new. Iyer couldn't recollect any experience of his that took place after the operation. Time and medicine would have cured him, but Destiny decided differently." Now, a thought, perhaps unbecoming to a friend, crosses my mind. Was it not better that Iyer passed away then?(Parvathi married a man of her choice and leads a happy life) Had he lived, the plight of the corona invaded music world of Chennai would have broken his heart." 3) General Information* sFor general information. "If you know anyone in class 11 or 12, & interested in IIT preparation : The IIT-Professor Assisted Learning (PAL) video lectures for Class XI and Class XII can be accessed on You Tube through the links shown below. Many faculty members from various IITs have contributed to these lectures. Prof. Ravi Soni from the Dept. of Physics, IIT Delhi is the national coordinator and IIT Delhi has coordinated this entire effort with funds from MHRD. Over 600 hours of lectures in Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology are available for students. Please pass on the information to your friends/relatives and needy children. Biology : Channel 19 www.youtube.com/channel/UCqiFTyCxFFMAN_lhAzIkdpA/videos Chemistry : Channel 20 www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Zv0XxBjYlWMjbMv8ODE8… *Forwarded by Badrinarayanan, Chennai 4) Janardhana Warrier Bangalore "Vipin Rawat, Chief of Defense Staff of India, has said that every person in India must read the following sentences about the Indian Army. We kindly request you to cooperate in spreading these invaluable 'National Defense Sources' to more and more countrymen through various means. ✌🎖 Indian Army 10 Best Precious Words: Must Read. Reading these gives a feeling of true pride ... 1. "I will come back waving the tricolor or wrapping myself in the tricolor, but I will definitely come back." - Capt. Vikram Batra, Param Veer Chakra 2. "The extraordinary adventure of a lifetime for you is our everyday life." - Signboard (Indian Army) on Leh-Ladakh Highway 3. "If I die before I prove my bravery, then I swear I will kill death." - Capt. Manoj Kumar Pandey, Param Veer Chakra, 1/11 Gurkha Rifles 4. "Our flag does not fly because the wind is blowing, it flies with the last breath of every young man who sacrifices his life to protect it." - Indian Army 5. "You have to be good to get us, you have to be fast to catch us, but you have to be a kid to win us." - Indian Army 6. "May God have mercy on our enemies, because we will not." - Indian Army 7. "Our life is our coincidence, our love is our choice, our killing is our business." - Officers Training Academy, Chennai 8. "If a person says that he is not afraid of death, then he is either lying or he belongs to the Gurkha Army." # Nepali # boys💪 - Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw 9. "It is God's job to forgive terrorists, but it is our job to get them to meet God." - Indian Army 10. "We regret that we have only one life to give to our country." 🙏🙏🙏 🙏 We forward jokes a lot Keep pushing it ... Get everyone face to face with the Indian Army. ..Jayhind ...... Brother, you share a lot of jokes Do this too ⚔ Indian Army" D Quotes about Budget & Poetry in Budget Speeches 1) Budget | "Just-One-Liners.com" https://www.just-one-liners.com/topic/budget/ 2) "Jaswant Singh, Union Budget 2004-05. - When poetry makes dry Budget numbers come alive - The Economic Times" https://m.economictimes.com/nation-world/when-poetry-makes-dry-budget-numbers-come-alive/3-jaswant-singh-union-budget-2004-05-poet-not-known/slideshow/56423790.cms