Warrier's Collage on Sunday June 16, 2024

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Sunday June 16, 2024 Mura Japam 2020 : A Report https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/behind-the-scenes-of-the-56-day-murajapam-festival-at-sree-padmanabhaswamy-temple/article30534238.ece/amp/ Good Morning 🙏 M G Warrier A Media Response June 15, 2024 Development by consensus Apropos the article "India needs a long term development model" (The Hindu Business Line, June 15), the suggestion has not come a day earlier! We were in a way damn lucky post-independence to begin the experiment of parliamentary democracy with no strong opposition in legislatures at various levels. The disadvantages of not nurturing a healthy opposition started surfacing post-Nehru era and have peaked with the dawn of the current Century. The snake and ladder game with multiple political players has now started shaking the foundation of governance. The streak of luck that helped NDA to form government now may not be there always. In this context a national consensus to protect the basic features of the Constitution and to ensure mobilisation of resources and distributive justice across geography and among different income stratas become more relevant. The debate on a long term development model irrespective of change of guard at Centre or in states needs to be taken forward in the above circumstances. M G Warrier Mumbai B My son Kiran shared a picture while he happened to be in New York on official work last week, which indicated that New York City has the maximum billionaires in the world. Mumbai is fourth in ranking by number of billionaires. Believe me, Billionaires are a neglected lot in the world. Like the people living below the poverty line 🙏 Many of them are born into Billionaire families. They would have had a structured childhood. Those who have become first generation Billionaires through hard work would have gone through struggles which they will not forget and will keep disturbing the society and their family recalling their adventures. Like me, starting with "Those days... you don't know..." I had no occasion to interact with Billionaires. Perhaps it may not happen. But I have seen one or two on TV. They were normal human beings with usual concerns about weather and tomorrow. I don't know whether they have any organisation or whether they meet occasionally in groups, like batch of 2000, batch of 2020 etc Recently there was a rumour about introducing Rupee Billionaire Club and Yen Billionaires of the World. No recent updates. C Bhagavad Gita The Holy Geeta By Chinmayananda https://youtu.be/k3LKo3SUhgM?si=XB-Vt_5Ob4_ib1AF There are several voluminous books on Bhagavad Gita. By Shankaracharya to Nityachaitanya Yati. Yes. Many including Tilak (Gitarahasya) and Dr S Radhakrishnan in between. Each Vyakhyata had something new to tell us about Gita. Last week I read somewhere about this "Holy Gita" by Chinmayananda. Having listened to some of his discourses on Gita during 1960's (Those days his Gita Gyana Yagnas were popular across the world), I was curious. The Kindle edition of the book (1000 plus pages) was eligible for free download for Amazon Prime members. Opted for that though the hard cover edition was also damn cheap. https://www.amazon.in/Holy-Geeta-Swami-Chinmayananda-ebook/dp/B08QQ8RVPY?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=796ffd84-cc1e-42a4-b911-3ae46ecefb95 Started reading from here and there with nostalgic memories about Swami's mesmerizing discourses of 1960's. Like some other Acharyas of the first half of last Century, Chinmayananda had the backup of a prodigal "Purvashrama" with enough experience of normal life. This purvashrama perhaps enriched his vocabulary and sense of humour. https://medium.com/illumination/3-lessons-from-bhagavad-gita-that-stayed-with-me-9fa2a524b1e D Excerpts from Collage Daily (Limited edition) I The Road to Wisdom I was reading an excerpt from "The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda" (2. 176-177) published in the current issue of Prabuddha Bharata published by Advaita Ashrama Kolkata. The simple assertion in the article attributed to Vedanta is "This world is neither a miserable one not a happy one". We may feel, it's telling the obvious. Celebrity certification works, sometimes. Long ago Lux Toilet Soap was marketed with the following statement with South Indian Movie Actress Padmini's photo aside : "Beauty Soap of Film Stars" People could easily connect the beauty of Padmini and the use of Lux Soap. Rajagopalachari came to our college in a remote area in Malabar and addressed staff and students one evening. He was sitting and talking in a low voice. But the audience listened with awe and respect. Rajaji was talking simple things like the importance of honesty, respect for elders etc and I remember he even made a statement "Don't copy in exam halls" We give more respect and value to the teachings of Shankaracharya and Vivekananda. And continued to believe our national leaders were also men of wisdom. During the first half of last Century houses in the south proudly kept a black & white photo with Nehru sitting between Gandhi and Rajendra Prasad. Waiting for an era when national leaders will command similar respect in Twenty-first Century. Reader's Response Today even spiritual leaders give lectures on varied topics including prudent management. Not to talk of political leaders and corrupt politics. Now the season is for self analysis and self improvement .No photos may serve the purpose. Google Guru gives hundreds of lessons. But we should be like oysters converting water into pearls, to absorb, assimilate and to convert knowledge into wisdom. Vathsala jayaraman II Struggle for Hundred News! Have you ever wondered about the efforts behind the news channels dishing out "Hundred News" everyday? My perception I will share later in this piece. This thought came to my mind sometime after I committed myself to share the 100 words I write everyday in the social media. In my mental diary, I keep two or three subjects on which I will be covering in my morning ritual of writing 100 words as a backup. Most of the days, I get something "current" from the interactions with friends or in media groups and my backup remain safe. The trigger for today's topic is this news squeezed in at 50's in a popular Malayalam Channel's morning 100 News : "Youth caught with"Air Gun" in Vatakara, let off later when it was confirmed that it was"Air Gun"" Perhaps the news is about the delay in the person revealing that it was an air gun. Of course, it would have had news value, if the person had misused the "property" to threaten someone else. Reader's Response JyothyAnilkumar Chennai People used to joke about BBC back in the days that it has its eyes set on everything, everywhere and every corner in the world. Even our bathrooms may not be safe from its prying eyes! Anything for news! The Indian news channels have 'diversified' a lot in the last 3 decades; from merely providing important news along with little entertainment, to a paramount level of comedy and entertainment show of sorts . Breaking news being the highlight! The competition amongst channels is extreme. And the influence and support of politics and conglomerates is highly evident.