Progress in agriculture

This photo of plowing land for paddy cultivation was taken in Kerala 

in 1901. Can you recognize a change that has taken place in over a century?

 

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WWW.FLIGHTSTATS.COM – A GREAT WAY FOR A FLYER TO KEEP TRACK OF THE FLIGHT SCHEDULE

If you are a frequent flyer, then www.flightstats.com is a great and effective way (if not the best way) for you to keep a track of the flight schedules, i.e. the Scheduled Time of Arrival/Departure and Expected Time of Arrival/Departure. www.flightstats.com keeps making a real time tracking of every flight, and keeps informing people about any change (delay, etc.) in a flight's Scheduled or Expected Time of Arrival/Departure. The updating takes place at an interval of virtually a couple of minutes. More

Kerala to have more medical colleges

Those who have read my 2011 post Creating Gen Next Engineers would not have been shocked by Kerala’s engineering results this year. Now it would appear that Medical Education in Kerala too is on the slide.
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Interesting Old Photos From Malabar

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Old Kerala Jewellery

What prompted me to write this post is a TV ad that is quite familiar to watchers of Malayalam channels – the one where the famous actress Revathi talks of gold chains of the past and the making charges the customers have to pay for gold ornaments now. More

"Dial Kashmir" - A Good Initiative

Great job, Ms. Mehvish. You have really made a good use of your knowledge of Computer Science Engineering and Android Service. We all wish you all the best. More

The Intimate Relationship Between Communism and Violence

This post is not aimed at maligning Communism, which is certainly one of the most notable political theories that the human civilization has ever come across. It is rather an observation by a very ordinary person, who otherwise very much identifies with some of the key objectives of Communism (such as a classless society). More

'ಸಕಾಲ'ಕ್ಕೆ ಸಖತ್ ತಯಾರಿ!

ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ಏಪ್ರಿಲ್ ಮೊದಲನೇ ತಾರೀಖಿನಿಂದ 'ಸಕಾಲ' ವನ್ನು ಜಾರಿಗೆ ತಂದಿದೆ. ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ಸಕಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು ಎಂದು ಇದರ ಉದ್ದೇಶ. ಇದು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಆಫೀಸುಗಳು, ಶಾಲಾ ಕಾಲೇಜುಗಳು, ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡುವ ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ನೌಕರರಿಗೆ ಅನ್ವಯಿಸುತ್ತೆ. ಇದು ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ ಸದಾನಂದರ ಇನಿಷಿಯೇಟಿವ್. ಇದನ್ನು ಆಚರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದರೆ ಜೀವನ ಖುಷಿಯಾಗಿ ಮತ್ತು ಸದಾ ಆನಂದಾಯಕವಾಗಿ ಇರುತ್ತೆ ಅನ್ನುವ ದೃಢ ನಂಬಿಕೆ ಅವರದು.

 ನಮ್ಮ ಅಜ್ಜಿಯ ಗ್ರೂಪಿನವರ ಎಕ್ಸ್ ಪಿರಿಯನ್ಸ್ ಏನು? ನೋಡೋಣ... ಬನ್ನಿ......

 

ನಮ್ಮ ಅಜ್ಜಿ ಅವರ 'ಪಟಾಲಮ್ ಎಕ್ಸ್ ಪ್ರೆಸ್' ಮಾಮೂಲಿನಂತೆ ಹರಿಕಥೆ ಕೇಳೋದಕ್ಕೆ ಹೊರಟ್ರು. ಆ ದಿನ ಅಚ್ಯುತದಾಸರು ಕರ್ಣನ ಅಪಾರವಾದ ದಾನ ಮಾಡುವ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿತ್ವವನ್ನು ವಿವರಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಅಜ್ಜಿ ಗ್ರೂಪ್ ಕೊನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕೂತಿತ್ತು. 'ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮಣನ ವೇಷದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದ ಇಂದ್ರನಿಗೆ ಕವಚ ಮತ್ತು ಕರ್ಣಕುಂಡಲವನ್ನೇ ಕಿತ್ತು ಕೊಟ್ಟ ಕರ್ಣ, ನಿಜವಾಗಿಯೂ ದಾನ ಶೂರ ಕರ್ಣ.. ದೇಹದ ಒಂದು ಭಾಗವನ್ನೇ ದಾನ ಮಾಡಿದ'.

  Read more April 05,  2013...

http://mymysore9.blogspot.in/ 

A painting and a story

Many thoughts rushed to my mind when I saw this creation by the Royal Painter Raja Ravi Varma by chance yesterday. It is titled ‘The Reaper’. An untouchable woman waiting for a boat with the paddy she has harvested, gazing into the sunset.

This is a scene we shall not see again. It belongs to another age.

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Anchal: The mail must go through

An old, dilapidated building atop an isolated hill. Totally deserted. No one goes there anymore. The path that led to the structure once is no longer traceable. The letter box is crumbling with rust and may topple any day.

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The Italian Marines Came Marching In

After the tumult and the shouting, and trying defy the Supreme Court of India, the Marines are back. But judging by the past conduct of the Italians, we should not be surprised if they come out with some absurd defence.  For instance they could claim that they were trying to shoot into the sky to test the guns and hit the Indians by mistake.

 

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Nutmeg, the super spice

At one time it was considered as the best of spices. Bloody wars have been fought over it, particularly by the Dutch and the British. A person who had a few of these in his possession was acknowledged as a rich man. It was an accepted ingredient in cuisine from Penang to Europe. Some men consumed it on the sly because of its reputation as an aphrodisiac.

That is nutmeg, Myristica fragrans.

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Malayalam Cinema: The Celluloid Controversy

Within 24 hours of Kamal’s Celluloid winning seven awards including Best Film and Best Actor (Prithviraj) at the Kerala State Film Awards on February 23, 2013, a major controversy erupted. It was ignited by K. Muraleedharan, son of the former Chief Minister K. Karunakaran. He claimed that the film insulted his father and a bureaucrat who had worked under him.

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A Syro-Malabar Church Wedding

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JJ Murphy remembered

I am getting back to Kerala’s much loved Irish planter, JJ Murphy about whom I have already written so much. There are two events that I have to report.

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The writer, The showman and ‘The Guide’

This one was a difficult story to research, something I had avoided for a long time. Two of my favorite persons tussling with each other and the question of who was right was a determination I did not really want to make, mainly because I felt that one had to be wrong for the other to be right. Anyway I was determined to find out if there was indeed a real story behind all this posturing and so I decided to get to the root of the matter. Armed with a lot of research and archival material, I dived deep into the topic, and read much on the lines and between the lines, to come out with a much better understanding of the issue. In this narrative, I will move back and forth between the first person accounts of those interesting personalities, newspaper reports and other material to keep the story going.


The people are all well known, and we traverse to a period 1958-1965. RK Narayan, in his middle ages and a widower then, had already completed and published some 6-7 novels and was well regarded in India and the West. Some of his best books - Swami and fiends, The Bachelor of Arts, The Dark room, The English Teacher, Mr. Sampath, Waiting for the Mahatma and the Financial expert had been devoured by many happy fans and critics. He had quite a following and kept to his strict regimen of writing a few thousand words every day, in the pursuit of creation of many more fascinating literary works. Dev Anand, by that time was a popular Bollywood (the term did not exist then) matinee idol, some 20 years younger than RKN, having acted in wonderful films like Baazi, Munimji, CID, Paying guest, Kala bazar, Bombai ka babu, Hum Dono, Tere Ghar ke samne and Kala-pani, just to name a few.

Read more at Maddys Ramblings

Apollo Tyres - the beginning

Two days back a former colleague from Apollo Tyres telephoned to invite me for his son’s wedding. I was quite touched because we had no contact for about three decades. And the call kind of opened the memory box for me. 
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Republic Day 2013

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Siragugal @ Ooty: Kalyani takes off

That was when Kalyani had occasion to attend a PTA meeting at Thalaiyattumund Municipal school,  and interact with some parents.  What did they want their children to learn ?  To speak English,  to learn Hindi, computer, karate, drawing…. the sort of things children  didn’t get at a municipal school,... More

A dismal beginning to 2013

After the last year ended with the shock of Nirbhaya’s tragic end, everyone was hoping that things would be better in 2013. Sadly, the first two weeks of the New Year are loaded with a shocking array of crimes against women and children and absurd statements by people in important positions.

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Swathi Sangeetholsavam

If you are a carnatic / classical music buff and happen to be in Trivandrum till 13 Jan, perhaps you may think of attending concerts at the Swathi Sangeetholsavam.event.
Venue: Kuthira Maliga, adjacent to Sree Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple.
Dates: Jan 4 to Jan 13
Complete schedule
Frankly, I am trying to keep superlatives under control, after attending the second day's concert by Prince Rama Varma, accompanied by .... continue reading

Malayalam Cinema: Snehaseema Revisited

ET Vasudevan’s Snehaseema directed by SS Rajan was released in 1954. The movie was a big hit. After half a century I saw it again two days back on the Asianet Movie Channel. Black and white print of course, but clear, and holding one’s interest throughout.

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New Year Greetings

Photo TP. Click to enlarge.

Merry Christmas

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Rape & Punishment

This, I am sure, is going to be a controversial post. The language is rather rough too. But please understand that I am only thinking aloud and some of the points mentioned here may be worth considering...More...

A Salon Blossoms in Harlem

By day - and often also by night - they are mathematicians, doctors, scientists, researchers, engineers, bankers, students of an exhilarating array of disciplines that probe the vast arc of human interests and scholarship, from Sanskrit to creative writing to spinal cord regeneration to economic policy. And in the precious nooks and crannies, the cracks and crevices of their spare time, a whole other side blossoms into being: that of singers, dancers, writers, poets, actors and artists.
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Tolpava koothu (tOlpAva koothu)

Among the many folk arts of Kerala, tOlpAvakoothu (leather puppet play / ancient shadow puppetry) is a ritualistic art form performed in specially made theatre (koothu madam) in front of temples. (see Tol paava koothu - The shadow puppet theatre of Kerala)
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Biennale: Kochi-Muziris 2012

On December 12, the Chief Minister of Kerala would formally inaugurate the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012 at the historic Parade Grounds at Fort Cochin. This would be India’s first Biennale. There was a Triennale at Delhi in 1968, but that was a one shot affair. The Kochi-Muziris 2012 would open the world of art and culture to tens of thousands of people from many countries.

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All about Norway

Norway has once again grabbed the headlines! 

High Heels & a Shotgun

It is quite a distance from Dances for the gods. to Rock Music. The girl in this photo seems to have traversed it quite well. She is Susan Ann Isaac. It was her Bharathanatyam performance five years back that prompted me to write the post mentioned above. More...