Warrier's Collage on Sunday September 24, 2023

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Sunday, September 24, 2023 I Manisha Panchakam* : Sarvapriyananda https://youtu.be/Dmy3cphT9kE?feature=shared "See G for lyrics II Ganesh Festival in Mumbai https://www.firstpost.com/web-stories/india/ganesh-chaturthi-2023-the-9-ganpati-pandals-in-mumbai-you-must-visit-9482.html Good Morning. I'm aware, Mumbaikars especially, are relaxing after a hectic Ganapati Festival. You may save this edition of Collage and read in leisure. M G Warrier A Responses/Messages 1 R Jayakumar To cut the leg to suit expensive shoes Dear friends I picked up the above phrase from today's Warrier's Collage (20-9-23). I think it means being ready to lose one's moral values in order to gain monetary benefits. Here is something I had on my draft folder to reflect. (Orginal altered to suit the reader). It's meaning may be that 'We are good as long as everything around us is in good order'. 'Too much of being good is self denial which is not god's intention '. Regards R Jayakumar ** When the shoe fits, the feet is forgotten. When the belt fits, the waist is forgotten. When all things are in harmony, the Ego is forgotten. Of what use then, are my austerities? Do I go to God only to inform him how good I am? The question is not, "Am I as good as my fellow men are? " The Question is, " Am I as good as God wants me to be?" Am I indulging in kind of self- congratulatory words, 'thank God, I am not like....!' Is my claim based on my accomplishment? Is my prayer to force God that He is bound to give what I ask because of my so called austerities, sacrifices, praying hours, virtues, holy practices? The trouble with my ideals is that if I live up to all of them, I become impossible to live with...!! May I not become too conscious of my holy deeds and push the Divine consciousness to the back stage. May my day be filled with innermost Equanimity. ** B Collage Mythology Horn of Plenty or Cornucopia : Narration by K Somarajan, Thiruvananthapuram Cornucopia is a symbol of plenty consisting of a goat's horn overflowing with flowers, fruits, corns, etc. Sometimes it is also depicted as a horn shaped wicker basket filled with similar contents. In some countries this symbol is used in connection with harvest festivals and Thanksgiving Day celebrations. The origin of the symbol of the horn of plenty is associated with the Greek god Zeus. Zeus, when he was very young , while playing with his beloved nanny- goat, accidentally snapped off one of her horns. By virtue of devine powers, the broken horn instantly filled itself with the most delicious food- fresh bread, vegetables, fruit, cured meat and smoked fish- a supply never gave out no matter how much was taken from it. Thus originated the celebrated Horn of Plenty, the Cornucopia. MG Warrier adds : Thanks Somarajan. Interesting. Those who want to know more and have no time to check with Google Aunty, one link is here : https://plantscapers.com/cornucopia-and-its-greek-origins/#:~:text=In%20classical%20antiquity%2C%20the%20horn,on%20the%20island%20of%20Crete C Cover Story : Vathsala Jayaraman 10 oldest living languages in the world The same as everything else in the world, languages have a life cycle. They are born, then grow, sometimes mutate and eventually die. Still, there are languages on Earth that have been on people’s lips for thousands of years and continue to exist to this day. Here are some of the oldest languages in the world still spoken today. Sanskrit (cc. 3500 years old) First attested: 2nd millennium BC Spoken in: India Current number of speakers: 5 million Sanskrit was the lingua franca of ancient and medieval India and the first written record of it can be found in Rigveda, a collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. Although many believe Sanskrit to be an extinct language, 24,800 people have registered Sanskrit as their mother tongue at the 2011 census. Additionally, it continues to be used as a ceremonial and ritual language in Hinduism and some Buddhist practices. Continued at H D The book on my table : "Novelist as a vocation" By Haruki Murakami On the same day I glanced through the pages of a Murakami book, sitting in Reshmy's drawing room, I placed an order for this book. No, I am not planning to write a novel! But the innocence with which Murakami wrote about himself made me curious to know more about him. I received this book today, September 20, 2023. All of us have reasons for doing what we are doing. But by listening to authors like Murakami who painstakingly explain their progress in life, perhaps we can make online corrections in our attitudes and approaches. It's said you will appreciate a poem better, if the poet expressed an idea in a way you would have written it, if you had the literary skills of the poet! I found some approaches to issues confronting the world today as expressed by Murakami were identical to my own assessments. I love his strong views expressed in soft, hesitant words. Bonus Patna Srinivasan Good Morning. There was a Patna Srinivasan in RBI who was my friend. He passed away while in service (1992, I think). Was staying in A22, Jalada, RBI Quarters in Prabhadevi. I was staying in this flat from 1993 to 1999. Srinivasan used to analyse the characters of people in different geographical areas in India comparing with the gods and goddesses they worship. Like Ganesh in Maharashtra (happy and remaining happy), Kali in Bengal (respect for women), Ayyappa in Kerala (indecision, sitting and thinking) and so on. He missed our area worshipping Guruvayoorappan and Theyyams. E The art of decision making After cataract surgery, I was asked to go for a new spectacle, as my numbers had changed. Armed with the prescription, I went to the nearest spectacle shop (Desai, Bhandup). The person there gave me several options. I could quickly decide on the one which I will use for reading from next week. After payment, I tried to please him by commenting that very rarely you get customers like me who will decide so quickly when so many options are available. As people get confused about quality and price. He smiled and replied that "Many from Dreams Complex come to us as some of them are our customers for years. We are here since 1990's" You are able to decide quickly by itself doesn't vouch for the consistent accuracy of your decisions. But speed saves time, at least for others! F Collage Fun Use of body parts in intercourse* Amazing English : Shared in another group by my friend P Aravindakshan WHEN BODY PARTS ARE USED AS VERBS Many parts of the body can be used as verbs in either a physical or a metaphorical sense. You can head a company, but if things go wrong you'll have to shoulder the blame, or face your investors. A good leader will back his employees, but if you don't toe the line the management can skin you. Did you muscle your way into that job? You might eye someone suspiciously, or wait for the police to finger a suspect. But if you need to get out of town, you can thumb a ride or you can ride with me if you can stomach the thought. Use strong arm tactic if you want to elbow out someone. I don't always sing along with the radio, but I sometimes do mouth the words. (To all English-Language Lovers) *Shocked? I sparingly use this word which I came across in RBI (Staff) Regulations during 1968. Meaning : intercourse /ˈɪntəkɔːs/ noun 1. communication or dealings between individuals or groups. "everyday social intercourse" G Collage Spirituality Manisha Panchakam https://hindipath.com/manisha-panchakam/ Bonus Back to nature https://g.co/kgs/F8dcXn H Continued from C Greek (cc. 3400 years old) First attested : 1450 BC. Spoken in : Greece, southern Italy Current number of speakers : 13 million Greek was also mentioned in the “extinct languages” category because Mycenaean Greek is the precursor of Modern Greek. Thus, it’s debatable whether the Greek language we speak today is indeed 3400 years old or not. However, since its roots lie in Mycenaean Greek, we can all agree that Greek is indeed one of the oldest living languages in the world. The Greek language holds an important place in history thanks to its rich literature that includes epic poems such as Iliad and Odyssey. Additionally, Greek is also the language in which many of the fundamental works in astronomy, mathematics, logic and philosophy (the Platonic dialogues and the works of Aristotle) are composed. “Hercules furens” by Seneca Coptic Egyptian (cc. 2200 years old) First attested : 2nd century BC Spoken in : Egypt Current number of speakers: unknown Sometime in the 2nd century BC, Egyptian began to be written in the Coptic alphabet (an adaptation of the Greek alphabet), so the Coptic language can be considered the latest stage of the Egyptian language. Unfortunately, the language will probably soon become extinct since there are only a few people left in the world who continue to use Coptic as their day-to-day vernacular. Hebrew (cc. 3000 years old) First attested : 10th century BCE Spoken in : Israel Current number of speakers : 9.3 million The earliest known precursor to Hebrew is the Khirbet Qeiyafa inscription in Ancient Hebrew discovered in 2007, near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, 30 km from Jerusalem. The fascinating thing about Hebrew is that it had ceased to be an everyday spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 AD. Then, it continued to be used throughout the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature and poetry. Nevertheless, with the rise of Zionism in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, becoming the main language of the Jewish community and subsequently of the State of Israel. Chinese (cc. 3200 years old) First attested : 1250 BC Spoken in : Mainly China, but also other countries around the world Current number of speakers : 1.3 billion Old Chinese is the oldest attested stage of Chinese and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 BC, during the late Shang dynasty. “Hebrew” by Mick Haupt© Aramaic (cc. 3100 years old) First attested : 11th century BC Spoken in : The Middle East and Western Asia Current number of speakers : cc. 2 million During its approximately 3,100 years of history, Aramaic has served as a language of divine worship and religious study, administration of empires and as the mother tongue of a number of Semitic people from the Near East. Historically, Aramaic was the language of the Arameans, the Semitic-speaking people from the region between the northern Levant and the northern Tigris valley. Arabic (cc. 2800 years old) First attested: 1st century BC Spoken in : there are 25 countries that have Arabic as an official or co-official language Current number of speakers : 335 million Old Arabic is the ancestor of the Arabic language and it is believed that its earliest inscription is a prayer to the three gods of the Transjordanian Canaanite kingdoms dated to the early 1st millennium BC. Persian (Farsi) (cc. 2500 years old) First attested : 522 – 486 BC Spoken in : Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Russia, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan Current number of speakers : 65 million The ancestor of Farsi or Persian is Old Persian, a language that is first attested in the inscriptions of Darius I who ruled between 522 and 486 BC. Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran, Romania, Armenia, Bahrain, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt. However, the most important attestation by far is the Behistun Inscription which is a multilingual inscription that was crucial to the decipherment of cuneiform script because it includes three versions of the same text, written in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian (a variety of Akkadian). Tamil – the oldest language in the world? First attested : widely debated; proposals range between 5320 BC and the 8th century CE Spoken in : India Current number of speakers : 83 million The earliest Tamil writing is attested in inscriptions and potsherds from the 5th century BC. However, with the discovery of Tolkāppiyam, the most ancient Tamil grammar text and the oldest surviving work of Tamil literature, scholars began to debate the true age of Tamil. The author of Tolkāppiyam often mentions “they say so” (or something similar) indicating a rich grammar and literature tradition even before him. Naturally, linguists began to wonder whether we should be dating the Tamil language at least a couple of thousand years before Tolkāppiyam. Vathsala Jayaraman