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Showing posts from March, 2009

Kahlil Gibran’s ‘Al Mustafa’ through’ The Prophet’

Is ‘The Prophet’ ; a poetry, an essay, or a ‘string of philosophical beads ’? Whatever may be its form, it’s undoubtedly a celestial beauty laced with enchanting language dealt on earthly issues. What is this life all about and how it has to be cherished is what ‘Kahlil Gibran ’ tells us through ‘Al Mustafa ’. For me, it’s contemporary version of ‘ Sri Krishna’s Bhagvad Geeta ’ and ‘Prophet Mohammad’s Quran ’ that synthesizes spectrum of life’s nuances from our Birth until our Death. If I were the resident of ‘ Orphalese ’ , I would have asked ‘Al Mustafa ’ about Conflict, Hatred, Insecurity - the terms that are distinctly pronounced in 21st century and also some of my own favorites like Dream, Morality, Rebirth and Truth. ‘Al Mustafa ’ is part of every one of us. I am not sure if I have reached my ‘ Orphalese ’ but my ‘ Bsharri ’ is definitely belonging to ‘Govt Colony of Bandra East’. Luckily for me, I do not need to wait for ‘The coming of the Ship’ to take me there. With gl

गूडी पाडव्याच्या शुभेछ्या !!!!

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‘ Today is the first day of the new year of Hindu Calendar ’ I said to my non-Indian friend . That’s nice, how do you celebrate ? '. This put me in a fix. Despite my years of study, my inadequacy of putting across Hindu cultural symbols in English language was apparent. I tried hard to go back to my childhood days remembering colorful Gudi’s adorning various balconies and forcibly being fed something that tasted atrocious and bitter. I did my best to make physical description of ‘Gudi’ but was aware of my inability to explain it’s relevance. Santan Prabhat has a special supplement on Gudi Padwa . Now I realize that Gudi Padwa has his origins well before return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya . Lord Brahma supposedly created the universe on this day. My bitter tasted recipe was a mix neem leaves , ajwain, gul (jaggery)and was meant to purify my blood and strengthen my body’s immune system against diseases. A long bamboo, on the right side of the balcony (symbolises active state of the soul

Kahlil to Nancy

I knew Kahlil Gibran as a great philosopher and even had read some his profound and mystical analysis of life's eternal truths. But reading ' The Prophet' is truly exhilarating . The effect would last for long time. As I was reading this book, I thought of sensuous personality from his country of origin. I had heard her songs at most places in the middle east but did not have an idea who the singer was. On the flight from Dubai to Cairo, one of her song captivated me immensely. I memorised the tune and was determined to find out the singer . At downtown Cairo, I hummed the tune to my Egyptian friend and he said ' Nancy Ajram '. Soon, we were at the music shop to buy one of her album that had all the catchy numbers. Gautam during his visit to Dubai took fancy for her tunes. I do hope he still has that CD in his home . Nancy is seductive with melodious voice and a familiar figure on mba TV channel. Her song ' Enta Eih ' is another lovely song with great

Ram Navmi

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गीत रामायण भाग 1 , गीत रामायण भाग 2 , गीत रामायण भाग 3 , गीत रामायण भाग 4 , गीत रामायण भाग 5 , गीत रामायण भाग 6 , गीत रामायण भाग 7 , गीत रामायण भाग 8 गीत रामायण भाग 9 , गीत रामायण भाग 10 , गीत रामायण भाग 11 , गीत रामायण भाग 12 गीत रामायण भाग 13 , गीत रामायण भाग 14 , गीत रामायण भाग 15 , गीत रामायण भाग 16 गीत रामायण भाग 17 , गीत रामायण भाग 18 , गीत रामायण भाग 19 , गीत रामायण भाग 20

'Wednesday' on Thursday

I was just rummaging the list of Hindi movies listed across different alphabets and realized list isn't that uniform. 'W' was one just alphabet and I remembered movie 'Wednesday' that won 'best screen play award'. Image of ' Naseer on PC ' being blown from the top of Mumbai Building was the only visible image that the movie promo had projected. 'Wednesday' picked up the pace very early but soon plot broke down into various subplots. I kept wondering if this movie too was going to wind up as most recent movies that started with great promise and excitement but failed miserably. 'Wednesday' subplots did take away the focus from the 'protagonist' but smart and fast editing kept the pace alive. What started as a quick review of a film gripped my attention to complete the screening of this movie. Anything more I say on 'Wednesday' would be unfair to this fascinating and well scripted movie and movie watchers.

Happy Birthday Akshta

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जन्मदिनमिदम् अयि प्रियसखि । ( Janmadinamidam ayi priya sakhe ) शान्तनो तु ते सर्वदा मुदम् ॥ ( Santanotu te sarvada mudum ) प्रार्थयामहे भव शतायुषि । ( Prarthayamahe bhava satayusi ) ईश्वरः सदा त्वां च रक्षतु ॥ ( Isvarah sada tvam ca raksatu ) पुण्य कर्मणा किर्तिमर्जय । ( Punya karmana kirtimarjaya ) जीवनं तव भवतु सार्थकम् ( Jivanam tava bhavata sarthakam ) Dear Akshta , Wish you a very happy birthday! O dear sister! May this birthday bring auspiciousness and joy to you forever. Indeed, we all pray for your long life. May the Lord always protect you. By noble deeds, may you attain fame and may your life be fulfilled! With Love, Sanjana didi , Gautam dada Kaka , Kaki & Leela Aaji ******** I found this greeting pretty cute. Thanks Gautam & Sanjana . While understanding the meaning of the words , I chanced upon the website of Chinmaya Mission Dallas/Fort Worth. Gautam and Sanjana's association with Chinmaya Mission must have reconnected them to b'

Crumbling Pillars of American and Global Business

Iconic pillars of current empire of the world. GE, GM and Citi. All these three are benchmark indices for Dow Jones and now City is not far away from being disqualified from trading. How pathetic they look amidst the fear of devastation and ruins! Citi share is available for cost of coke @US$ 1.02, GM share for US$1.86 little below the cost of gallon of petrol and GE share @ US$ 6.66 less than compact fluorescent floodlight bulb that it produces. They were dream companies not just to work for but also get associated either as channel partners or customers or even as competitors. Would they fail? I doubt because they represent the symbol of modern America . I am tempted to put all my life time savings in buying the stocks of these three. But I also thought the same for Rank Xerox, Lehmann Brothers only to see my hunch evaporate in thin air. Washing Post article discusses two factors that catapulted these three to dizzying height of success and now the very factors that are turning

Dirty Money and Indian Elections

In early 80’s, a criminal would loot matka dens- illegal gambling operator - around the suburbs of Mumbai . A smart move by him as this theft would never be reported to the police. He went on doing the crime until gambling syndicate in connivance of police gunned him down. I remember witnessing breathtaking bursting of firecrackers in Santacruz . I was told that the Gambling operator was celebrating this killing of this 'smart criminal'. Last month, there was a news report of cash theft of 2.6 crores from BJP headquarters. However, no official police complaint was filed. Wonder what happened to the cash? News of Ex Minister Sukhram being sentenced for getting unaccounted cash in crores did not go beyond a day. He must be enjoying his freedom after applying for bail. I do want to read a book by Raymond Baker - Capitalism's Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free Market. This book says ‘Since 1970, at least $5 trillion have been moved out of poorer countries