interesting and very true

An Obituary printed in the London Times - Interesting and sadly rather true.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion..

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

2 not 4

thats a mirror for effect

whats in a name?
yertle or turtle
kurma or ...
tweedledum or tweedledee
who cares
what a source of entertainement
to see them glide through the water
see them bask on the rock
to see the happy comraderie
to have a feeling there are people around
to have personality
small yet full of.....

kaps: to remind u!!

The Moment is Perfect

By Thich Nhat Hanh

Take the time to eat an orange in mindfulness. If you eat an orange in forgetfulness, caught in your anxiety and sorrow, the orange is not really there. But if you bring your mind and body together to produce true presence, you can see that the orange is a miracle. Peel the orange. Smell the fruit. See the orange blossoms in the orange, and the rain and the sun that have gone through the orange blossoms. The orange tree that has taken several months to bring this wonder to you. Put a section in your mouth, close your mouth mindfully, and with mindfulness feel the juice coming out of the orange. Taste the sweetness. Do you have the time to do so? If you think you don’t have time to eat an orange like this, what are you using that time for? Are you using your time to worry or using your time to live?

Spiritual practice is not just sitting and meditating. Practice is looking, thinking, touching, drinking, eating, and talking. Every act, every breath, and every step can be practice and can help us to become more ourselves.

The quality of our practice depends on its energy of mindfulness and concentration. I define mindfulness as the practice of being fully present and alive, body and mind united. Mindfulness is the energy that helps us to know what is going on in the present moment. I drink water and I know that I am drinking the water. Drinking the water is what is happening.

Mindfulness brings concentration. When we drink water mindfully, we concentrate on drinking. If we are concentrated, life is deep, and we have more joy and stability. We can drive mindfully, we can cut carrots mindfully, we can shower mindfully. When we do things this way, concentration grows. When concentration grows, we gain insight into our lives.

When I join my palms to greet a child, or to greet an adult, I don’t do it simply to be polite. I do it because this is my practice. I am a living being who is bowing to a child or to a friend. Joining my palms, I make a flower. It’s beautiful in appearance and it’s beautiful on the inside. In joining my two palms, I realize the oneness of body and mind. My left hand is like my body, my right hand is like my mind. They come together, and in an instant I arrive at the state of oneness of body and mind. When mind and body come together, they produce our true presence. We become fully alive. Oneness of body and mind is the fruit of practice that you can get right away—you don’t have to wait.

The principle of the practice is simple: to bring our minds back to our bodies, to produce our true presence, and to become fully alive. Everything is happening under the light of mindfulness. In the Jewish and Christian traditions, we say, "We’re doing everything in the presence of God." That’s another way of expressing the same reality. When Jews have a shabbos dinner, they lay the table, pour the milk, and cook the food aware of the presence of the divine.

In Buddhism, God is mindfulness and concentration. Every single thing that takes place is exposed to the light of mindfulness and concentration, and that energy of mindfulness and concentration is the essence of the Buddha. Mindfulness and concentration always bring insight, and insight is the factor that liberates us from suffering, because we are able to see the true nature of reality.

All rituals are nothing if they are empty of the energy of mindfulness and concentration. We could call these energies the Holy Spirit. When a priest celebrates the Eucharist, breaking the bread and pouring the wine, it’s not the gesture and the words that create the miracle of the Eucharist. It’s the priest’s capacity to be alive, to be present at that moment, that can wake up the whole congregation. The priest can break the bread in such a way that everyone becomes aware that this piece of bread contains life. That requires strong practice on the part of the priest. If he’s not alive, if he’s not present, if he doesn’t have the power of mindfulness and concentration, he won’t be able to create life in the congregation, and in the church. That is why empty rituals don’t mean anything. For all of us—priest, monk, and layperson—our practice is to generate the energy of concentration and mindfulness.

When we do something deeply and authentically, it becomes a real ritual. When we pick up a glass of water and drink it, if we’re truly concentrated in the act of drinking, it is a ritual. When we walk with all our being, investing one hundred percent of ourselves into making a step, mindfulness and concentration become a reality. That step generates the energy of mindfulness and concentration that makes life possible, deep, and real. If we make a second step like that, we maintain that concentration. Walking like that, it looks like we are performing a rite. But in fact we’re not performing; we’re just living deeply every moment of our lives.

Even a daily habit like eating breakfast, when done as a practice, can be powerful. It generates the energy of mindfulness and concentration that makes life authentic. When we prepare breakfast, it can also be a practice. We can be really alive, fully present, and very happy during breakfast-making. We can see making breakfast as mundane work or as a privilege—it just depends on our way of looking. The cold water is available. The hot water is available. The soap is available. The kettle is available. The fire is available. The food is available. Everything is there to make our happiness a possibility. If we are caught in our worries and anger, or in the past or the future, then, although we’re making breakfast, we’re not there. We’re not alive.

If you are cutting carrots, you should invest one hundred percent of yourself into the business of carrot-cutting. Nothing else. While cutting the carrot, please don’t try to think of the Buddha or anything else. Just cut the carrot in the best way possible, becoming one with the carrot, becoming one with the cutting. Live deeply that moment of carrot-cutting. It is as important as the practice of sitting meditation. It is as important as giving or hearing a dharma talk. When you cut the carrot with all of your being, that is mindfulness. If you can cultivate concentration, and if you can get the insight you need to liberate yourself from suffering, that is because you know how to cut your carrots.

You can clean the toilet in the spirit of mindfulness, investing all of yourself into the cleaning, making it into a joyful practice. Do one thing at a time. Do it deeply. There are many wonders of life that are available in the here and the now. Without mindfulness, you may be angry that you have to clean the toilet or feel resentful, and neglect and ignore the wonders around you.

Many of us don’t allow ourselves to be relaxed. Why do we always try to run and run, even while having our breakfast, while having our lunch, while walking, while sitting? There’s something pushing and pulling us all the time. We make ourselves busy in the hopes of having happiness in the future. In the sutra “Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone,” the Buddha said clearly, "Don’t get caught in the past, because the past is gone. Don’t get upset about the future, because the future is not yet here. There is only one moment for you to be alive, and that is the present moment. Go back to the present moment and live this moment deeply, and you’ll be free."

How do we liberate ourselves in order to really be in the here and the now? Buddhist meditation offers the practice of stopping. Stopping is very important, because we’ve been running all our lives, and also in our previous lives. Our ancestors, our grandfather, our grandmother were running, and now they continue to run in us. If we don’t practice, our children will carry us in them and continue to run in the future.

A practitioner has the right to suffer, but a practitioner does not have the right not to practice. People who are not practitioners allow their pain, sorrow, and anguish to overwhelm them, and to push them to say and do things they don’t want to do and say. We who consider ourselves to be practitioners have the right to suffer like everyone else. It’s OK to suffer; it’s OK to be angry. We can learn to stop and stay with our suffering, attend to it with all of our tenderness and kindness, and take good care of our suffering.

Let’s try not to run away. We run because we’re too afraid. But if we can be present with our suffering, the energy of mindfulness is strong enough to embrace and recognize that pain and that sorrow. We suffer because we lack insight into our nature and into the nature of reality. The energy of mindfulness contains the energy of concentration, and concentration always contains the capacity of seeing deeply and bringing insight.

To see deeply, we have to first learn the art of stopping. The Buddha is often portrayed as sitting on a lotus flower, very fresh, very stable. If we’re capable of sitting in the here and the now, anywhere we sit becomes a lotus flower—whether that is at the base of a tree, on the grass, or on a stone bench. When we’re really sitting, we’re free from all worries, from all regrets, from all anger. Many of us sit on the meditation cushion, but it’s like sitting on thorns because we don’t know how to enjoy the lotus flower.

You can start by just appreciating your eyes. Breathing in, you are aware of your eyes; breathing out, you smile to your eyes. When you embrace your eyes with your mindfulness, you recognize that you have eyes, still in good condition. It is a wonderful thing to still have eyes in good condition. You need only to open them to enter the paradise of colors and forms. Those who have lost our eyesight know what it feels like to live in the dark and wonder at the capacity to see things.

We can just sit on the grass and open our eyes. The beautiful sunrise, the full moon, the orange, all these things reveal themselves to us when we are truly present. The blue sky is for us. The white clouds are for us, as are the trees, the children, the grass, and the loving faces of our dear ones. Everything is available to us because we still have eyes in good condition. Most of us don’t appreciate our eyes because we are not mindful. We may think that everything in us is wrong, but that’s not true. There are millions of things in us that are right.

When we cook, when we clean, when we walk, each movement can be made with mindfulness, concentration, and insight. With each step we take, we can touch the earth and become one with it. Our fear and loneliness dissipate. There is no other way. With every breath, we can generate mindfulness, concentration, and insight. Insight is our liberation. Insight liberates us from our fear, our ignorance, our loneliness and despair. It is this insight that helps us to penetrate deeply into the nature of no-birth and no-death, and the interconnected nature of all things. This is the cream of Buddhist practice—and we can do it by means of the very simple practices of breathing in and breathing out, being mindful of each step, and looking deeply.


Thich Nhat Hanh is a renowned Vietnamese Zen master, poet, and founder of the Engaged Buddhism movement. His most recent book is Nothing to Do, Nowhere to Go.

some wedding pics

2010 the year of scams they say
Supercrooks
Conscienceless
Avaracious
Mad after money
Scruples take a back seat
They teach us to read 15 digit numbers
They make us so disgusted that we dont want to read another word abt it
Why is the world turning topsy turvy?
Will it go a full circle and come to normalcy?

New enterprises of the VSR family

With the new year ideas are needed for new ventures to be started by the family, the old ones are getting a little stale. Just to remind us of the old ones(maybe this isnt a comprehensive list!)
VSR travel agency
VSR courier services, (things can reach Chennai through Calcutta )
VSR logistics management of anything
VSR placement services( jobs, internships etc etc)
VSR guidance agency(on any matters matrimonial, renting house, recipes, the best place to buy)

carnatic music

Loved this, dont know how many of u read it

English is no equal

BALA SHANKAR

Language matters

Certain vernacular words simply don’t have substitutes.

When we try to review (a fairer word than critique) concerts, in English, we are often confounded by the difficulty of language to describe the happenings adequately and to readers’ familiarity. Conversational phrases are often the perfect way to describe something – “Kutcheri Kalai Kattarathu” for instance – I am not even trying to hazard an equivalent.

“Sruti Sudhdham” is loosely translated as “perfect pitch” or sometimes “pure pitch” and even “good pitch alignment.” All these words fall short of the implicit powerful meaning of “Sudhdham” (which usually also means unadulterated). Carnatic Music, over the decades, has cultivated its unique lingua franca, including several vernacular and colloquial phrases.

“MDR pidi” or “Madurai Mani Iyer pidi” is another oft-heard expression among young learners. The literal substitute is “MDR catch” which is obviously far off the mark. Even “MDR phrase” does not encompass the ramifications of the four letter word “pidi” as pidi includes swaram, bhavam and the full course.

What about “bhavam?” such a quintessential term in our music. Sanskrit translations of bhavam include ecstasy, dedication to service and intimate love and affection – none of these fit our usage. “Azhutham” is a trademark term used to depict music with correct vocal emphasis. We could never use “pressure” or “compression” or even “emphasis” to signify the word. How else can you describe the music of legends such as DKP or DKJ?

Talking of abilities, “Saareeram” comes first to my mind. English language fanatics would vie to suggest ‘endowed voice ability’ and similar long but imprecise phrases. But Saareeram is on its own, like many others. Compositions and Pallavis can’t do without “eduppu” – ‘take’ is a funny equivalent, but what else fits? Place is too generic and spot is no good. Other words from the same context include “aridhi,” “laghu,” etc – we are always stumped searching for their counterparts in other languages.

Tempo is often used as a surrogate for “Kalapramanam” and yet, one is not sure of its adequacy in the context. “Manodharma” is represented by its weaker cousins ‘imagination’, ‘creativity’, which are not sufficiently potent expressions. “Ragam” is either a ‘tune’ or a ‘melody’, both not true equivalents. Kalyani tune would probably refer to “Mannavan Vandanadi” song in “Tiruvarutchelvar.” Khambodi melody would be a particular note sequence and not the whole ragam.

“Expansion” and “Elaboration” have crept in as the imposters for the word, “alapana.” It is not that “niraval” is in any enviable position. “Chittaiswaram” is an orphan too. We classify the styles into “gamaka” or “briga,” which had their origins in the manner in which instruments such as veena and nagaswaram were handled. English language, unfortunately, has no synonyms for these words. It could also be due to the non-existence of such phenomena in other forms of world music. The traditionalists often look for a good “vazhi” in a budding musician. We have no way to find its equivalent or for that matter, one for “padantharam.”

When we were young listeners, we had our own language set and were afforded a bit of liberty with descriptions. “Asattu sangati” is a phrase allowed inside four walls. Try translating it into English – “bad phrase” is too bland without the right punch. “Sangati” is also tricky to translate. If a concert was a deliberate poor effort, we could also be mean enough to say “bhajanai” whose strict translation is: normally lyrical, expressing love for the divine – far from saying that the performer took it easy!

Even a simple word like “Sowkhyam” seems untranslatable - “Convenience,” “Comfort” are absolute howlers! If a performer was not very flamboyant, but gives a reasonable account, an easy term “chittaya paadarathu” comes in handy. The “chittai” is a loner without similar meaning words in English. Referring to accompanists (that unfortunately is the word for pakka vadhyakaras – it almost sounds as if they are passive co-travellers), one could have the pendulum swinging from “anusacharichu vassikkarathu” to “edainjala vaasikkirathu” – without conviction, I use words like “supportive play” or “obstructive play.”

Great musicians like MDR made the “vilamba” kala singing their trademark. Slow is hardly a fair way to describe their style. “Leisurely pace” is closer but linguistically not aesthetic. What about the characteristic “besh” acknowledgement of good singing or playing, patented by Semmangudi and others? Imagine saying “very good” instead!

“kanakku swaram” cannot be left to fend with terms like “mathematical notes.” Sequence is often used as a poor substitute for “korvais.” Reduction would be the logical unnatural equivalent for “kuraippu” if we are not allowed non-English words. We have already made “thani” (referring to thani avarthanam) as a rightful member of our vocabulary although we are still doing our research finding the right word for “nadham” in the context of instruments.

A “rasika” is a mere listener. The special ability to understand, appreciate and applaud is not fully encompassed in such a word.

We do use many English words and of course, adjectives and prepositions in order to qualify for publication in an English newspaper or magazine but they are poor substitutes for the Tamil original.

The tell tale brain by v.s ramachandran

Always been fascinated by the brain. Had the chance to hear this genius about 3 years ago. He was here in chennai for his book launch yesterday and was again amazing. If hes giving more talks dont miss itm its amazing
Heres what is said abt the book, waiting to read it.
The brain remains a mystery to us. How can a three pound mass of jelly that we can hold in our palm imagine angels, contemplate the meaning of infinity, and even question its own place in the cosmos? How can one study such a mystery? Eminent neuroscientist Professor V.S. Ramachandran takes us on a fascinating journey into the human brain, studying patients who exhibit bizarre symptoms, and using them to understand the functions of the normal brain. Along the way he asks big questions: How did abstract thinking evolve? What is art? Why do we laugh? How are these hardwired in the neural mechanisms of the human brain, and why did they evolve? Brilliant, lucid, and utterly compelling, The Tell-Tale Brain is a pathbreaking book from one of the leading neuroscientists today.

loved this and wanted to share with all

REMEMBERING OUR TIMES

Born between 1939-1969 ? yep that's us!! No matter what our kids and the new generation think about us, WE ARE AWESOME !!!! OUR LIFE IS A LIVING PROOF !!!! To Those of Us Born during 1939 - 1969 TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1940's, 50's, 60's and 70's!! We were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cots covered with bright colored lead-base paints. We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no caps or helmets on our heads. As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and some times no brakes. Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this. We ate cup cakes and other sweets made with Butter & white sugar but were not over weight. WHY? Because we were always outside playing....that's why! We would leave home in the morning, go to school mostly on foot and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.. No one was able to reach us all day.There were no cell phones, not even land lines and, we were OKAY. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms. (in fact no tv) WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We would get punishments like caning, spankings with sticks, or just a bare hands and no one would call child services to report abuse. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine that!! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! These generations have produced some of the best Managers risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. What can kids today do besides push buttons.. We had freedom, failures, successes and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!

A collage of 2010

2010 - The year that was : a collage of events
So many things happened in the year and we need to sit back and see what were the events.

• Start of the year had Dharini dancing in 2 local sabhas. a brilliant perfomance and ofocurse all kudos to the guru vijju
• Shyam turns 50 on the 11th of Jan. A landmark, all these young ones have started hitting 50 wow. And is it soon therafter that the Muses come calling on Rama:P
  
• Mrs and Mr. V.sivaramakrishnan complete their 60 years of marriage on the 23rd of Jan and Bhaskar and Subha compelete their 30 years on the 30th of Jan.
• Kapil announces having found the girl of his choice
• Lalan goes to UK for further internship at Kings College
  
• Tanvi gets a job with TERI and is posted in Goa
  
• Naren and Vasu are done with school and enter college.
• Vaishnavi clears her CA! wow what a deed
  
• Lalitha shifts back to Delhi
• Rama turns into a full fledged poet
  
• Kapil gets engaged, a rocking engagement party is the talk of the family!
  
• Vaishno devi beckons Shyam, Rama and Lalitha
• Its a year since Pranav and Rachna tied the knot on September 20th. China here we come to celebrate
• Aditi and Vibhav land up with great jobs.
• December 9th Kapil weds Divya
• Its 25 years since Naga finished from IIM A. A grand reunion with families at Ahmedabad
  
• Thanks be to the Lord for a great 2010 and seek His blessings for the years to come
• Im sure many more things have been left out, please feel free to add.
  

Why so vain?

I continue to wonder as I always do,

Why have we not learnt as much as we should?

From Mother Nature around us

An offspring of her, are we not?

The mighty Sun shines day after day

As if reiterating He still wants to show me the way

He picks me up from where He left me at dusk the earlier day

Reenergizes me and eggs me on to do my part day after day.

He walks tirelessly alongside me all day long

And as I lift my gaze and look up at him blazing away.

I can shed the shadow of my past, trail behind me

As I walk towards the path leading to find my Truest form.

He being as mighty as He is

He being as irreplaceable as He is

He being the very source of life as He is

And that without him all forms of Existence can come to a stop!

How quietly he comes in and goes

Not expecting accolades for his daily chores

Oh Man, why are you so vain?

You can not seem to go about a single day without praise or gains.