Warrier's Collage April 24, 2022

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On SUNDAY April 24, 2022 Meaningful Life https://advaitaashrama.org/living-a-meaningful-life-in-a-digital-world/ Excerpts : "Dr Alan Hunter prophesies in his article in Prabuddha Bharata (January 2022) that— Credible predictions suggest that within a generation, we may have computers a million times more intelligent than every human combined. Artificial intelligence will far surpass human beings as the most capable life forms on the earth: ‘machines’ will calculate, communicate and act so quickly that humans would not even comprehend what they are achieving. Integrated with advances in non-biological intelligence, we will surely witness revolutionary changes in energy sources, nano-technology, bio-technology and robotics. These revolutionary changes are welcome, but the surpassing of human beings by artificial intelligence will indeed be of disastrous consequence." Good Morning We are back in Mumbai. Hopefully, Collage will also be regular now. Happy Birthday to all readers having Birthday during the week ending Saturday May 1, 2022. Ayurarogyasaukhyam and Best Wishes 🙏 Nice Day M G Warrier M 134 A Messages/Responses* 1) M G Warrier Mumbai Collage received a response from a reader pointing out that in the last issue with focus on Maya Angelou, at least in two places second part of her name was spelt "Anjelou". There was no other observations by the reader on the contents of that issue of Collage. The following link throws more light on her name which she changed to the popular one in her twenties. People understand names more in spirit than in letters : https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/maya-angelou-1085/ Excerpts : Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Bailey Johnson, who was a naval dietitian, and Vivian Baxter Johnson, who was a nurse. Angelou had one sibling, her older brother Bailey Jr.; he called her “Maya,” his version of “my sister.” Another source says : "At the age of twenty-one, she married a Greek sailor, Tosh Angelos. Before they divorced in 1952, when she was singing at the Purple Onion nightclub in San Francisco, she created her professional name by combining a variation of his surname with her brother's nickname for her, Maya." So, she didn't have a permanent name, though she got her name depicted in golden letters in world literature. 2) Vathsala Jayaraman Responding to wrong spelling Angelou in Collage : (I had requested PPR to guide about change in pronounciation of Angelou if spelt Anjelou. The response was "As in Gandhi and Jinna". I'm not wiser, though🙏-Warrier) Angle and angel are better examples than Jinnah and Gandhi 3) Media Response RBI rises to the occasion Apropos ‘RBI directs UCBs to not create honorary positions/titles’ (April 22), the RBI having directed Urban Co-operative Bank (UCBs) not to create any honorary positions/titles at Board level or confer such titles that are non-statutory in nature, deserves kudos for protecting the interests of all stakeholders. That the central bank seeking the elimination of existing position/titles within one year, speaks volumes about its 'sincerity of purpose' behind invoking such a stipulation. It intends to ‘preclude’ some ‘favoured’ individuals, currently holding such prized yet unrecognised positions (as per applicable statutes or regulations), from enjoying certain privileges or rights as also having the 'free' access to all board materials and participate in board/ committee meetings of these UCBs. After all, it is incumbent upon the RBI to carry out its ‘supervisory’ role befitting its status of the nation’s banking regulator. SK Gupta New Delhi *Many responses have not been included here. Thanks for all messages/responses from readers by email/WhatsApp/phone calls 🙏-Warrier B Sunday Collage : Spirituality/Faith 1) V T Panchapagesan SUNDAY COLLAGE : Cosmic Dance by Shiva Shiva, the King of Cosmic Dances within a flaming halo symbolizing the Pranava, OM. On His right ear is a man's earring and on the left ear is a woman's earring, showing that He is both male and female. The cobras that coil around the hair and body represent The cosmic Force of Shiva, The Supreme yogi….. Handholding Drums is for Evolution through sound, Hand in Abhaya Mudra is The Fear not seal for preservation, Right leg resting on Muyalaka is The subduing of the deluded Egoistic soul that has suffered enough and cries for salvation, Hand pointing to the raised left foot is the grace that saves The soul that cares to come to His Feet, Hand holding Fire is for ultimate Dissolution…. Mystery of Ancient temples after 8 years of R&D, Western scientists have proved that at Lord Nataraja's big toe is the Centre Point of World's Magnetic Equator. Our ancient Tamil Scholar Thirumoolar has proved this Five thousand years ago! His treatise Thirumandiram is a wonderful Scientific guide for the whole world. To understand his studies, it may need a 100 years for us. 1) This temple is located at the Center Point of world 's Magnetic Equator. 2) Of the ""Pancha bootha"" i.e. 5 temples, Chidambaram denotes the Skies. Kalahasthi denotes Wind. Kanchi Ekambareswar denotes land. All these 3 temples are located in a straight line at 79 degrees 41 minutes Longitude. This can be verified using Google. An amazing fact & astronomical miracle! 3) Chidambaram temple is based on the Human Body having 9 Entrances denoting 9 Entrances or Openings of the body. 4) Temple roof is made of 21600 gold sheets which denotes the 21600 breaths taken by a human being every day (15 x 60 x 24 = 21600) 5) These 21600 gold sheets are fixed on the Gopuram using 72000 gold nails which denote the total no. of Nadis (Nerves) in the human body. These transfer energy to certain body parts that are invisible. 6) Thirumoolar states that man represents the shape of Shivalingam, which represents Chidambaram which represents Sadashivam which represents HIS dance! 7) "Ponnambalam" is placed slightly tilted towards the left. This represents our Heart. To reach this, we need to climb 5 steps called "Panchatshara padi" "Si, Va, Ya, Na, Ma" are the 5 Panchatshara mantras. There are 4 pillars holding the Kanagasabha representing the 4 Vedas. Ponnambalam has 28 pillars denoting the 28 "Ahamas" as well as the 28 methods to worship Lord Shiva. These 28 pillars support 64 +64 Roof Beams which denote the 64 Arts. The cross beams represent the Blood Vessels running across the Human body. 9) 9 Kalasas on the Golden Roof represent the 9 types of Sakthi or Energies. The 6 pillars at the Artha Mantapa represent the 6 types of Sashtras. The 18 pillars in the adjacent Mantapa represents 18 Puranams. 10) The Dance of Lord Nataraja is described as Cosmic Dance by Western Scientists Chidambaram Incredible………. One has to go and visit the Temple V T Panchapagesan 2) Dr Charan Singh Fear none, Scare none : Charan Singh https://www.speakingtree.in/article/the-guru-who-taught-us-to-fear-none-scare-none Excerpts : "In his extensive travels, Guru Tegh Bahadur preached tolerance and inter-faith harmony. In Dhaka, for example, the Guru helped restore peace between Chakradhvaj, ruler of Ahom, and Raja Ram Singh of Amber. He also practised economic independence. The piece of land where Anandpur is built was offered by Rani Champa of Bilaspur, but the Guru preferred to pay for it and purchased it for Rs 500 in 1665. He believed that the spiritually wise are steadfast, neither do they intimidate nor get intimidated by anyone." C Books WORLD BOOKS DAY https://www.ndtv.com/education/world-book-day-2022-copyright-all-you-need-know-about-april-23-famous-quotes-other-interesting-facts April 23 is celebrated as World Book Day across the globe. Also known as World Book and Copyright Day, this day is an important day for literature as it marks the birth and death of several prominent authors. William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, and Josep Pla died on April 23 and Manuel Mejia Vallejo and Maurice Druon were born on April 23. World Book Day is organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Bookstores : Ashmita Badani https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/storiesbyashmita/bookstore-brings-happiness-and-peace-42560/ Excerpts : "One of my favourite memories of school days is when we had a free period and I used to run to the library. I then used to imagine how it would feel to go to a bookstore. Living in a small town, we didn’t have many big bookstores. But when I visited my first bookstore in Dehradun, I was awestruck and happy to see so many books all around me. While the Amazon and ebooks feel great, and easy to access, going to a bricks-and-mortar store is a completely new experience. I keep returning to the (The English Book Depot, Book World) stores to relish the way a good bookshop makes me feel — welcomed, relaxed, excited and connected." (Real life experience of being with books and the role of books as friend, philosopher and guide brought out excellently well. The role played by libraries, reading rooms and bookstores in building relationships and connecting people during the last century is an area which is waiting for deeper research 🙏-Warrier) D Babusenan's Column Swati Jayanti : V Babusenan The small princely state of erstwhile Travancore was especially blessed with very gifted and forward-looking kings who loved their people as also the arts. Swathi Thirunal was the most illustrious among them and also perhaps the shortest lived. In the royal family that was matrilineal where only a nephew could become king, even while lying in the fetal stage in the Regent's womb, he had the rare honour of being called 'Garbhasreeman'(being a king even while lying in mother's womb) Rama Varma was his name and he learned several languages, including all South Indian languages with amazing rapidity besides learning music, both Hindustani and Carnatic. In 1829, having reached the age of16, he took ,on his tender poetic shoulders ,the burden of the state. He had the good fortune of exemplary advice and he ruled well. One of his advisers was his former teacher who was the inspiration behind his magnificent development . Such was his adherence to fairplay that his great respect for the Guru did not stand in the way to suspend him while a minister when a serious allegation was raised against him. Might not have been like Vikramaditya's or Akbar's court, but Swathi's court in Thiruvananthapuram was full of great and gifted among poets, dancers, musicians, instrumentalists and musicologists. The more well-known among them were the Tanjavur Quartet (Chinnayya,Ponnayya , Sivanandam and Vadivelu) who came from the tradition of the dance form of the great Brihadeeswara temple of Tanjavur and who laid down the rules for Bharatanaatyam. Then there was the great vocalist Palghat Parameswara Bhagavathar and the lullaby non-pareil-cum-attakkadha(kadhakali story) writer, besides being a royal relative, the evergreen Irayimman Thampi. Shadkaala Govinda Marar, the sagelike person who could sing with ease in all the six speeds and who, according to legend, inspired Saint Thyagaraja to compose the famous song 'Entharo mahaanubhaavulu' was a frequent presence in Swathi's court. The Maharaja kept all of them pleased with generous words and gifts. But to General Cullen, the British Resident, it was all a waste. He complained to those who sent him about Swathi's extravagance and many other deeds. He started interfering in day-to-day administration making life embarrassing to the king. Swathi gradually withdrew his mind from mundane things and placed it at the feet of the family deity. He became a true to the word 'Padmanabhadaasa'. 'Paripaalayamaam'(ritigowla), 'Padmanaabha paahi'(hindolam) 'Kripayaa palaya'(charukesi), 'Deva deva '(poorvikalyani) and'Bhaavayaami(ragamalika) are a few of the many songs through which he fervently sought the blessings and protection of his Lord. The last mentioned one is an encapsulation of the Ramayana story, made tremendously popular by the golden-voiced MS. His krities include such gems on Devi too as 'Paahi parvatha nandini'(arabhi) and 'Paahi jagajjanani'(hamsaanandi) He contributed greatly to Bharatanatyam by composing padams, javalies and thillanas with the help of the Thanjavur Quartet. 'Alarsara parithaapam'(suruti), 'Aliveni enthu cheyvoo'(kurinchi), 'Kaantanodu chennu'(neelaambari) are some of the popular padams thus created which are also used in the Kerala dance form Mohiniyaattam. Music lovers must be familiar with the thillana composed by Swathi in the raga dhanasree, the lyric being in Hindustani. Apart from certain other languages, Swathi composed many songs in Hindustani the most popular among which stand'Visveswar darsan kar' in raag sindhubhairavi and'Jamunaa kinaare' in madhuwanti. After a prolonged illness, Swathi Thirunal passed away at the young age of 33. About a century and a half after his death, an unsavory controversy about him cropped up in the citadel of Carnatic music. The portrait of Swathi Thirunal as a vaaggeyakara(composer-singer) happened to be displayed along with those of the musical Trinity(Syama Sastri, Saint Thyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar) in the auditorium of the Madras Music Academy irked S. Balachander, a well-known veena maestro who virulently objected. He was of the view that Swathi Thirunal was a deliberately built-up figure, that there was no one like that and that,most of the songs ascribed to him, were actually composed by the Thanjavur Quartet. It soon developed into a law-suit involving also the Book Trust of India which published a biography of Swathi Thirunal. It is not our intention to go into the details. Suffice to say that the bitter controversy subsided with the sudden passing away of its protagonist after a heart attack. One has to give allowance to a sizeable quantum of exaggeration around the life of a king. Added to this is the handicap that a king cannot have disciples in the matter of singing. It those days it was really the disciples who established the reputation of a person as a vaggeyakara. The Trinity had several of them(all the four in the Tanjavur Quartet were disciples of Dikshitar) and, therefore, some special efforts would naturally have gone into establishing the well-deserved reputation of Swathi and the Travancore royal family would have taken considerable interest in the matter. Two great singers shared the credit for this work. They were said to have primmed and revitalised the krities even by changing ragas and tempos. They were Dr L Muthayya Bhagavathar, the founder Principal of the Music Academy set up in Tiruvananthapuram in1939 in the Maharaja's name and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer who too was a Principal later. It was the latter who wrote the biography of the singer Maharaja for the BTI. In later years Dr M Balamuraleekrishna also contributed his genius for popularising Swathi krities. Swathi was a long-sighted administrator too. His shifting of government offices from Kollam to Thiruvananthapuram, establishment of a hospital in the capital to spread the allopathic system of medicine, setting up a public library, an observatory, a museum and a zoo to popularise modern education. Once these belonged to the princely state of Travancore but now are the proud possessions of the entire Kerala. The state celebrated Swathi Jayanthi on the 16th April, in a subdued fashion. E Phonetics or Linguistics : Tell me where the letter is, English Man will tell you the rules J & G, which sounds right?* You have come across words that have the letter“g” such as judge, jug, angle, angel, age, egg, language, Egyptian, and many more. The letter“g” changes sound in various words. It is pronounced as /j/ in some words and as /g/ in other word. There are rules that govern whether to pronounce letter“g” as /j/ or /g/. The first rule is that letter "g" is pronounced as /j/ when it is followed by letter "e",“i”or “y". This is why you will find letter“g” pronounced differently even in the same words such as gorge, grudge and language. It is the“e”that comes next to“g” that changes the sound. Consider other words such as page, generation, gender, detergent and many more. Because of the same rule, letter "g" is pronounced as /j/ throughout in the word “ginger”and differently in words "region" and "pentagon". Some early learners of English find the two words "angle" and "angel" confusing in pronunciation. The "g" in "angle" is pronounced as "g" in the name "Angola” while the "g" in the word "angel" is pronounced as the “j”in the name "John". Letter“y" also does the same thing as “i” and "e" when next to letter“g”. Consider words such as astrology, Egyptian and gym. The second rule is that letter "g" retains sound /g/ when it comes last in a word. Take an example of words like egg, jug, hug, beg etcetera. Master these simple rules such that you pronounce differently the words egg and age, jug and judge, gender and grandeur. At this point, you must have thought of some 'rebellious' words in this rule as you were reading this text. If not, then you have not been focused. Examine the following words : get, give, and giggle. If we follow the rules we have seen, the "g" in these words is supposed to be pronounced as /j/ but it is not. The reason they stand out of the rule is they are not English but of German origin. Other words that behave‘rebellious’ are Hebrew names such as Gideon and Gilead. If we listen to the pronunciation of GYNAECOLOGY even today by many doctors, our head swirls. After 1900 it is said that no one has taken steps to give correct formulation *Contributed by Vathsala Jayaraman F Leisure Origin of spelling https://www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/spelling.html Like : I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way. *** As I have said before, I never had any large respect for good spelling. That is my feeling yet. Before the spelling-book came with its arbitrary forms, men unconsciously revealed shades of their characters, and also added enlightening shades of expression to what they wrote by their spelling, and so it is possible that the spelling-book has been a doubtful benevolence to us. Mark Twain (Out of four languages I'm familiar with (Malayalam, Hindi, Sanskrit and English in that order), English is the most disorganised language. I also owned a Wren & Martin purchased investing* Rs 4 in my childhood days. The worst thing about English is its alphabet. Among the miserly 26 many fight each other for prominence. C wants to be K, Z would like to compete with S, P would like to intrude into the privacy of S, K is notorious for distributing knots and pretending to be Knowledgeable and so on. In my own name Warrier has been spelt as Variar, Varier, Wariyar, Variyar, Warrier and Warrior at different times in different contexts. Govinda remained the same. Iyer remains the same with spellings like Ayyar, Iyer, Iyyer and Aiyar 🙏-Warrier) *Much later, while in College, I saved Rs 5 in a year and invested in Prize Bond. Collected back Rupees Six and Twenty-five paise while working in AG's Office. Bonus from K Balasubramanian Coimbatore Sanskar : THIS IS A VERY ROUGH TRANSLATION OF A BEAUTIFUL MARATHI CONVERSATION BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN. 👇 HE QUESTIONED HER : “WHICH CASTE DO YOU BELONG TO ?" SHE ASKED BACK : ”AS A WOMAN OR AS A MOTHER ?" A BIT PERPLEXED, THE MAN SAID “TELL ME ABOUT BOTH". WITH FULL SELF CONFIDENCE, SHE STARTED TELLING........... “TILL A WOMAN BECOMES A MOTHER, SHE BELONGS TO THE CASTE SHE IS BORN INTO WITHOUT HER CHOICE. BUT SHE BECOMES CASTLESS, THE DAY SHE BECOMES A MOTHER !”. HE WAS TAKEN ABACK “HOW IS IT POSSIBLE ?" HER ANSWER WAS...... When a MOTHER CLEANS EXCRETA OF HER CHILD, SHE BELONGS TO SHOODRA JATI. As the child grows, she protects the child from harm and unwanted influences, SHE TURNS INTO A KSHATRIYA. WHEN SHE GIVES GOOD "SANSKARS" viz GOOD VALUES, GOOD CULTURE and HOME BASED EDUCATION TO HER CHILD, SHE BECOMES A BRAHMIN........ AND LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST...... WHEN THE CHILD GROWS UP FURTHER, THE MOTHER MAKES HIM WORLDLY-WISE AND GUIDES HIM to FINANCIAL STABILITY, SHE BECOMES A VAISHYA. SO I HOPE YOU AGREE WITH MY STATEMENT THAT A STREE HAS NO CASTE -SHE IS CASTELESS.” LISTENING TO THIS, THE MAN WAS DUMB STRUCK. HIS EYES AND DEMEANOUR REFLECTED DEEP RESPECT FOR HER, AND FELT HIGHLY ENLIGHTENED. PROUDLY DEDICATED TO ALL THE FABULOUS WOMEN AND MAGNIFICENT MOTHERS IN OUR LIFE. G Serious jokes* Read these jokes. They will keep you happy for the rest of the day. *Received from V R Chittanandam One evening one old farmer decided to down the pond as he had not been there for a while and look it over. He grabbed a 5-gallon bucket to bring back some fruits. As he reached the pond he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer, he saw it was a bunch of young women bathing in his pond completely naked. He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end to hide their nakedness. One of the women shouted, "We are not coming out until you leave." The old man frowned. "I didn't come here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked." Holding the bucket up, he said, "I am here to feed the crocodiles." Some old men still think that fast. Husband : "Scientists have found that men say about 10,000 words a day while women say about 20,000." Wife (shouts from the kitchen) : "It's because we have to repeat everything twice to you dullheads." Husband : "What?" An architect vacationing in East London met an old Lawyer friend and asked him what he was doing there. The Lawyer replied : "Remember that lousy real estate I bought? Well, it caught fire, so here I am with the fire insurance proceeds. What are you doing here?" The architect replied, "Remember that lousy real estate I had in Mississippi? Well, the river overflowed, and here I am with the flood insurance proceeds. The Lawyer looked puzzled. "Gee" he asked, "how did you start the flood?" Frank and Billy were known for having quite a bit below the avearge smarts around the town. One day in the town's Walmart they decided to get in on the weekly charity Raffle. They each bought a ticket at a dollar a pop. The following week when the raffle was drawn, each had won a prize. Billy won a first prize - a year's supply of gourmet spaghetti sauce and extra long spaghetti. Frank won 6th prize - a toilet brush. About a week or so had passed when the men met back at Walmart. Frank asked Billy how he liked the prize to which Billy replied, "Great! I like Spaghetti!" Billy asked Frank,"How about you? How is your toilet brush?" "Not so good." replied Frank. "I Reckon I am going to switch back to paper!". A woman visits her husband in prison. Before leaving she tells a jailor, "You shouldn't make my husband work like that. He's exhausted." The Officer laughs and says, "Are you kidding? He just eats and sleeps and stays in his cell." The wife tells, "He just told me he's been digging a tunnel for months!". Child : "Hello! Headmaster! I am ringing to say Tommy Jones won't be at school today. He is ill". Headmaster : "Who is that speaking?" Child: "My dad!" Relex Singh was travelling in a crowded bus. He was carrying the passport-size photograph of his son for college admission. Accidentally, the photograph dropped down from his pocket. He started searching for it frantically & found it on the floor below the ends of a woman's saree. He asked her, "Can you lift your saree? I wanna take photograph".... THE REST IS HISTORY.... He was beaten so badly that he had to be admitted to hospital. He was suprised to see Jaswan Singh on the next bed to him in a worse condition. Jaswan explained what happened to him. He had gone to a remote village to work. He finished late & missed the last bus. He couldn't find any hotel nearby. So he approached a nearby house & asked the owner whether he can stay there for a night. The owner replied "I have 2 grown-up daughters. Sorry, you can't stay here." Then he approached the next house & asked the owner whether he can stay there for a night. The owner too replied "I have 3 grown-up daughters. Sorry u can't stay here." So he went to the next house & asked "Do you have grown-up daughters?" The owner asked "Why?"and Jaswan replied,"I want to stay for a night." THE REST IS HISTORY... boommmmm..!!! Two beggars were sitting side by side on a street in Rome, Italy. One had a Cross in front of him; the other one was holding the Star of David, a symbol of Judaism. Many people went by, looked at both beggars, but only put money into the hat of the beggar sitting behind the Cross. The Pope came by. He stopped to watch the throngs of people giving money to the beggar who held the Cross while none gave to the beggar holding the Star of David. He felt sorry for him. Finally, the Pope approached the beggar with the Star of David and said: "My poor fellow, don't you understand? This is a Catholic country; this city is the seat of Catholicism. People aren't going to give you money if you sit there with a Star of David in front of you, especially when you're sitting beside a beggar who is holding a Cross. In fact, they would probably give more money to him just out of spite!" The beggar with the Star of David listened to the Pope, smiled, turned to the beggar with the Cross and said : "Moishe, would you look who's trying to teach the Goldstein brothers about marketing? F G Quotes on spellings https://www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/spelling.html Like : "As I have said before, I never had any large respect for good spelling. That is my feeling yet. Before the spelling-book came with its arbitrary forms, men unconsciously revealed shades of their characters, and also added enlightening shades of expression to what they wrote by their spelling, and so it is possible that the spelling-book has been a doubtful benevolence to us." Mark Twain