Warrier's COLLAGE August 18, 2021

Welcome to Warrier's COLLAGE On Wednesday August 18, 2021 Maya* Panchakam by Shankaracharya https://youtu.be/xQ3N2nLevRg *Maya & Leela : Speaking Tree https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/the-two-aspects-of-creation-maya-and-lila/m-lite Good Morning Onam Season Special : Palada Pradhaman (See H) Nice Day M G Warrier M 134 Pen Spinning World Records https://youtu.be/7YcYm94d-m4 (Uploaded 5 years ago) A Reader's Response V Babusenan Thiruvananthapuram Collage August 17, 2021 People occasionally get what they do not deserve. I came to this unsavory conclusion from my own experience. Years ago, I happened to traverse the path along which Saint Thyagaraja walked doing his Uncha Vritti and to see his pooja room where he is supposed to have seen with his own eyes Sree Rama, Lakshmana and Sita together. The system of Uncha Vritti, in a way, impressed me. It is a miniature way of society taking care of persons who, because of their total involvement in good causes, do not find time to take care of themselves and their families. If this thought does not govern a democratic society, many dedicated souls will have to end up their lives in utter penury. The story goes that, when an erstwhile political leader died, the leader in power asked the dead man's widow for some rice to do the last rites. "Had there been some rice in the house, he wouldn't have died" was her response. There is a story about Lord Buddha. It is like this : In the harvesting season, a rich farmer was busy measuring his yield before storing it in his granary. He was in a happy mood as the rain god favoured him and the yield was rich. So he did not at first notice the ochre-dressed man stretching his arms for alms. When he saw him, he was filled with contempt. He looked at him from head to foot and said : "Why don't you do some job? If I go and stretch my arms in front of the field, it will not give me paddy. It does not understand one word of Vedanta philosophy." The sanyasin smiled and replied : "In my smaller way, I too am a farmer. The field I cultivate is the human mind. I first clear the noxious vegetation, level the ground and irrigate it with compassion, non-violence and love and then sow the seeds of a quite and cultured way of life. And, when the harvesting season arrives, I allow all human beings to share the yield." It was an eye opener for the haughty farmer who sought forgiveness from the ochre-robed man who was Buddha himself. The late Malayalam poet, G Sankara Kurup*, the first Jnanapeedom awardee, had written a fine poem based on this anecdote. (*Profile : http://www.keralaculture.org/g-sankara-kurup/676) B Current Affairs The Open Editorial https://openthemagazine.com/cover-stories/freedom-issue-2021-editors-note/ C Collage in Classroom Let's learn meanings of words others use : Convoluted https://dictionary.cambridge.org/amp/english/convoluted Convoluted sentences, explanations, arguments, etc. are unreasonably long and difficult to understand: Use in sentence (Contributed** by M G Warrier) : Of late, Collage presentation is more and more convoluted. (**Idea Courtesy : A Collage Reader) Ten Convolution Quotes https://quotestats.com/topic/quotes-about-convolution/ Like : you can't control the wind, but you can adjust your sails. It was his way of reminding us that you can't control most of what happens in life. You can only control your reaction to it. - Author: Kristen Proby Kristen Proby has published more than fifty titles, many of which have hit the USA Today, New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestsellers lists. She continues to self publish, best known for her With Me In Seattle and Boudreaux series, The Big Sky Series,.. Bonus : A miniature village made from clay & cardboard https://youtu.be/mKMzQP3ZtLk D Book Review https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/354-from-rebellion-to-reform-in-bolivia An accessible, yet insightful, look into the promise, potential, and political contradictions of Evo Morales' first term. Evo Morales rode to power on a wave of popular mobilizations against the neoliberal policies enforced by his predecessors. Yet many of his economic policies bare striking resemblance to the status quo he was meant to displace. Based in part on dozens of interviews with leading Bolivian activists, Jeffery R Webber examines the contradictions of Morales' first term in office. E Nostalgia* First Day in Reserve Bank of India : S L Arora 59 years ago on this day I joined RBI in Jaipur. At that time Jaipur office had only one department viz. P D. O and it was a small office with a total strength of about 40. Besides PDO there was Note Examination and Cancellation Section working in annexe of SBI main office under the jurisdiction of New Delhi office. There was also an independent Agricultural and Credit Department. I was posted in Draft Writing Section and was told to report to Clerk Gr.I of the Section. His name was Mr. Bhedasgaonker. The very first lesson he gave me that when I work I should work wholeheartedly with fullest of my knowledge and ability. I should not work to show my superiors that I am busy and work slow. This lesson of first day I followed till retirement. The office had shifted only in the previous month from New Delhi where it was working as Rajasthan Section. Therefore all the stationary forms had New Delhi printed on it. I was given the work to put stamp cutting New Delhi and putting Jaipur in its place in stationery. I spoiled few forms as I pressed the stamp in stamp pad with force and put stamp on the forms with equal force everytime for each form. Mr. Bhedasgaonkar understood this being my first experience. He taught me how to use stamp pad and put stamp. Simultaneously he also taught me how to punch papers and file them. How to pin papers so that sharp end of pin is concealed between papers and it does not hert the reader. The day ended with above lessons and putting stamps on about more than 2000 forms. A small party was also thrown in the Section to celebrate new job. After close of office I chitchatted with my batchmates who had already joined a few days earlier. S L Arora *Received via Group mail F Leisure Vathsala Jayaraman shares* a Cat & Mouse story from US You have read many wonderful essays on the beauty of Niagara, the amazing nature sculptures at Grand Canyon and the mesmerizing Fire Waterfalls at Yosemite Park. People speak of beautiful wooden houses with largest fridges and coolers and gardens. But I had altogether different experience at home in US, not very long ago. That year on June 15th, two mice just ran across the dining table. Priya, my daughter-in-law, with full term pregnancy screamed, ran and fell down hindered by the chairs. Luckily nothing happened. From next day onwards two or three mice were in sight. The mice never hesitate. They simply run over here and there, play on the portraits of Gods and Goddesses, have a taste of oil in the Kuththu Vilakku, just bite the bananas kept on the table for a while. The pest control authorities came, examined the surroundings. There was absolutely no inlet for the mice to enter. They provided varieties of mouse traps, traditional, electronics and glue traps to be placed in vulnerable places. The mouse caught through traditional trap has to be left in a place at least 5 miles away; the distance to be travelled by car. The electronic trap emitted some strange odour which may harm the mouse as well as the infant at home. Glue trap was a torture to mice as well as the viewers. The glue trap was able to catch one or two mice a day. It is strange that the modern guys/girls who are brave enough to put their 45 days old baby in the swimming class, or do lot of trekking in dense gardens do hesitate to remove the mouse carcasses from the hidden place, depended on this 75 year old village woman for the sinful act. It is a terrible sight to see the mouse caught up in the glue, struggling to escape for life. We cannot be expected to be humane (or mousane?-Warrier) and show empathy. Sincere regrets to Menaka Gandhi! One or two days my grandson aged seven, while running here and there placed his feet on the trap and could not take out his legs. He dragged his legs along with the trap and the entire wooden floor became messy and it took nearly 2 hrs to clean the house. Fortunately it was not a carpeted floor. On many days, as I opened the kitchen garbage box, three or four mice would be having dinner with the remnant food items .I used to shut immediately lest they escape. We were much afraid that the mouse should not harm the new born babe on the cot or cradle, My son got a cat for rent for two days. Immediately on arrival the cat picked a mouse and ran out in the garden. As we were feeling happy to have had a nice solution we saw the cat and mouse playing with each other.The cat was considering the mouse as toy and the mouse was playing on the back of the cat. The cat was silently returned to the owner. On the Dakshinayana Punyakalm Day I had the fortune of sending three mice to Moksham before taking bath. The search continued until we returned. The infant was 6 months old and he was also enjoying the hither-thither running of mice. The score Board was in display boldly written by a marker pen by my grandson Aditya. He used to congratulate me daily on the increasing score! I have caught 30 mice till date and hopefully the MahaBharata war will end up here. Along with cooking,washing etc etc mouse catching has become a routine to find a suitable place to keep the trap and ensure that nothing else gets stuck to it. In between, my grandson talks of sympathy to animals and jocularly tells my son and husband ( lovers of coffee) that droppings of mice are dried and added to the coffee seeds. I started doubting whether I came to US for maternity help or mouse catching. Experience tells me that US is a heaven not only for motorists and nature lovers but also the mice. With profound regrets to Lord Ganesha we have prayed that we will offer 108 modhakams if we are successful in annihilating his vahanam. We have to wait whether Ganesha lends his ears to our prayers. I think the famous song "muthu kulikka vaareehala? Moochai Adakka Vaareehalaa?"(Are you ready to enter the ocean to take out the pearls and are you ready to control the breath?) may be rewritten as "Moonjur Pudikka Vaareehalaa ? ,Mookkaip pidikka Vaareehalaa/"( Are you ready to catch the mice and tolerate the nauseating odour?) What a great experience in US! ( ultimately the problem was solved after three years when they changed the entire drainage outlet. Possibly the large family of mice had their hide out in the underground area and made an entry silently through drain pipes.) Vathsala Jayaraman (Some may think it a simple mice matter.... blown to mountain proportions by Madam known for her special skills in narration of making a mountain out of mole ( or mouse) . The mice menace is universal with modus operandi of their existence and exiting remaining the same be it in India or elsewhere-Badrinarayanan) *Received from Exrbitesplus Group mail G Quotes on Pollution https://www.trvst.world/environment/pollution-quotes/ Like : "Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans. - Evo Morales (Evo Morales was Bolivia's first indigenous president. He first gained attention through his activism and efforts to protect cocalero (coca leaf grower) rights as a unionist. Besides the presidency, he holds several titles such as the head of the Movement for Socialism Party and an election to Congress. Many laud Morales as a champion of environmentalism. We also recognize his efforts to declare clean water as a basic human right which led the implementation of necessary policies. Results of his efforts include the institution of April 22 as International Mother Earth Day by the United Nations.) H Collage in Kitchen* Palada Pradhaman https://youtu.be/UO8jPcrum4A Recipe : https://foodviva.com/kerala-recipes/palada-payasam-recipe/amp/ Payasam prepared with palada (rice ada) is common sweet delicacy prepared in almost all Kerala households during festival of Onam and many other occasions. There are many variations of it, however, this easy south Indian Kerala food recipe uses only basic ingredients like rice ada, milk, sugar and ghee to make best palada payasam. (*Those who are still wondering "what Collage is all about!" please stop worrying and come with me to the kitchen : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/warriersviews/when-past-experiences-come-to-help-11267/) Excerpts : "Though for the purpose of concealing my real identity (retired and resting!) I claim to be a freelancer or writer, no one has so far asked me a question I wanted to answer all my life: “What would you have become, if you didn’t get a regular employment when you were young?” My answer: “First a hotel/canteen employee. Then I would have started a small hotel…” Today at 75 plus, I still feel, I would have cooked food and beverages much better than the ‘words and figures’ which I have been processing all my life, for other people’s consumption and for earning my own bread and butter. First forty years I was doing it as part of my job, for livelihood, and the last fifteen years, for time pass!"