Beautiful holiday times...

I was watching a television talk show where people were arguing what kind of life is better- a slow & steady one or a fast & active one? The topic got so digressed that people got into a word play between laziness,patience,haste and carelessness rather than talking about the need of urgency vs. steadiness. Finally it turned out into a question of who enjoys life? Being slow does not mean that he/she enjoys doing it; nor a fast person means he does not enjoy his work. After all we do all these to enjoy life, aint we?

A winter morning is always beautiful, peace and calm. Cuddling under the quilt and snoozing the alarm every 10 mins, getting up in sunlight, sipping an aromatic Nescafe which sure is 'the Taste that gets you started up; the Taste that gets you going on'...wow wow...If you are a fan of Carnatic music, MS Subbulakshmi's melancholious suprabatham will sure brighten up your day. This reminds me of my childhood holidays in the month of Marghazhi (December) which is a winter, getting awakened by the aroma of Pongal which mom cooks,running in curiousity to look at her beautiful and geometrically proportioned Rangoli (when measured will be a perfect symmetry), listening to bhajans in the temple and arguing with mom that my late morning bath should not be a breakfast stopper/delayer...sweet calls  of cuckoos, moo moos of calves, dad's pooja bells, divine smell of incense sticks, visiting Ganesh ji 's temple by the side of rippling river...you should be there to enjoy it!

Like Thanksgiving,Christmas and New Year, beginning of Marghazi is the official start of Tamil festival season. Our village carnival starts with Cart festival (Therottam) which is a trade season with all kinds of sweet stalls, balloons, music & lights, sugarcane juice, merry-go rounds & giant wheels, bangles and other jewellery, melodious music concerts... the big temple has about 20-30 popular deities who are brought out of their sanctum for a village tour during those 10 days of festival. The deities are taken out in chariots with beautiful flower arrangements which not only please the eyes but also attracts by the fragrance.

After the 10 days of carnival, comes Pongal, which is a Thanksgiving of Tamil people where they thank God and request his blessings for the harvest season which is coming ahead. Family get togethers, everyday pooja, variety of food...hmm I miss them!

Bush's day out

Apparently Bush ji is enjoying his post-white house days with Barney, his pet!
Anyone who passes by Dallas can never control their sense of Aw on looking at the turnpikes, spaghetti bridges , interstates and infrastructure implemented by him!

ஏனோ ஏனோ பனித்துளி பனித்துளி

ஹும்ம்...நீண்ட நாட்களாக தமிழில் ஒரு கட்டுரையாவது எழுத வேண்டுமென்று ஆசை. ஆனால் என்ன எழுதுவது? தெரியவில்லை! சொந்தமாக எழுத முடியவில்லை என்றாலும் மனதிற்கு பிடித்த எதையாவது இன்று எழுதிவிட வேண்டுமென்ற முடிவோடு யோசித்த பொழுது, வெளிவர இருக்கும் ஆதவன் படத்திலுள்ள "ஏனோ ஏனோ பனித்துளி" பாடல் நினைவுக்கு வர, அதன் வரிகளையே எழுதி விடலாமென்று தோன்றியது. ஹாரிஸ் ஜெயராஜின் அருமையான கிதார் இசையும், ஷகில், சுதா ரகுநாதன், ஆண்ட்ரியாவின் குரல் இனிமையும் பாடலை மீண்டும் மீண்டும் கேட்கத் தூண்டுகிறது. காரில் பயணம் செய்யும்போது கண்டிப்பாக கேட்க வேண்டிய ஒரு பாடல். தாமரையின் வரிகளோ பாடலை முணு முணுக்க வைக்கின்றன. கே எஸ் ரவிக்குமார் நமக்கு ஏமாற்றத்தை தராமல், பாடலை நல்லவிதமாக படமாக்கி இருப்பார்  என்று நினைக்கிறேன். எனக்கு ஒரே ஒரு சிறிய குறை. ஆண்ட்ரியா  "பநிதுலி,  வெலி வாராய்,என்னை தல்ல, என்னி என்னி" என்று

 பாடாமல் நாவை சிறிது திருத்தி பாடி, வரிகளுக்கு மெருகு ஊட்டி இருக்கலாமோ என்று சிறிய எண்ணம்.சரி இதோ அந்த அருமை வரிகளும் இசையும்!

Download: Eno eno panithuli

ஏனோ ஏனோ பனித்துளி பனித்துளி பெண் மேலே
தேனோ பாலோ எரியுது எரியுது தீ போலே
மேலும் உள்ளம் உருகுது உருகுது தன்னாலே
கண்கள் பார்க்கும் போது நெஞ்சுக்குள்ளே
போனாய் நீ போனாய் என் நெஞ்சம் என்ன மெத்தை தானா
கூறாய் நீ கூறாய் உனை பூட்டிக்கொண்டாயே
வாராய் வெளி வாராய் இனி என்னை விட்டு எங்கும் செல்ல மாட்டாய்- மாட்டாய் மாட்டாயே...

மௌனம் என்னும் சாட்டை வீசி என்னை கீறாதே
மாலைத் தென்றல் பட்டால்கூட காயம் ஆறாதே
அக்கம் பக்கம் யாரும் இல்லை வா என் பக்கம்
தேடல் கொஞ்சம் ஊடல் கொஞ்சம் நீ யார் பக்கம்
ஏதோ ஒன்று என்னை தள்ள நதிகளின் ஓரம் நாணல் போலே சாய்ந்தேன்
உன்னை மட்டும் எண்ணி எண்ணி நிலவைப்போல் நீ இல்லாமல் தேய்ந்தேன்

ஏனோ ஏனோ பனித்துளி பனித்துளி ...

நானும் நீயும் பேசும்போது தென்றல் வந்ததே
பேசிப்போட்ட வார்த்தை எல்லாம் அள்ளிச் சென்றதே
சேலை ஒன்றும் மாலை ஒன்றும் வாங்கி வந்தாயா
சேதி நல்ல சேதி சொன்னால் வேண்டம் என்பாயா?
ஓஹோ ஓஹோ ஓஹோ ஓஹோ திரும்பிய பக்கம் எல்லாம் நீதான் நின்றாய்
காற்றைப் போலே தொட்டுத் தொட்டு தினசரி வாழ்வில் மாற்றம் நீதான் செய்தாய்         

ஏனோ ஏனோ பனித்துளி பனித்துளி...

Healthcare

'Health is wealth' saying has gained more relevance in the recent decades. While the cost of healthcare sky rockets adding to the worldover economic crisis, new pandemics like swine flu pose a serious challenge to all countries. Unlike well developed countries, developing countries have not linked the basic medical facilities to insurance. It is a great relief because basic healthcare is still in the affordable limit in developing countries. The medical system in developed countries has grown up so much that it has become so complicated and sophisticated with lots of regulations with reforms being added on a frequent basis. There is more of commercialisation than benefaction.

Let us consider a hypothetical scenario where a person catches fever. He does not know if it is common flu or swine flu or any other epidemic. He cannot walkin to a physician for a cure.

1.Get an appointment with a doctor which takes a minimum of one week wait.

2.Or go for an emergency which gobbles big money provided you have an insurance.

3.After getting a doctor's appointment, get all the insurance formalities done. Dont have an insurance card? No consultantion or prescription.

4.After consultation, all the tests required are routed through insurance. Even if you have money, no use.

After the treatment/test, claims are submitted to insurance companies who reject most claims. So there is a need for a lawyer to fight for claims! No money for paying an attorney? Then no recovery of claims and hence no further treatment.By the time all these processes are done, either the patient dies or loses trust in the medical system. Movies like 'The Rainmaker', portray this situation beautifully. And so the health care industry has become the bread and butter to many other professions viz. law firms,insurance, etc apart from the pharmacists.

It is not clear why there should be so much hierarchy and systems for a basic medical treatment. There can be a simple walkin for consultation and easy card payment if a person suffers any common ailment. If the treatment involves serious medication,operation or sophisticated treatments, insurance can be brought it.Otherwise the system does not require such complexities. Any measure by the government to streamline or simplify the process either do not reach or benefit the common man in the way it is expected to. May be because it does not have one common motive of serving people but has hidden agendas.

A survey in Aug 2009 by CBS says that most Americans do not understand the healthcare reforms announced. The poll quotes " Two in three Americans call the health care reforms being debated by lawmakers confusing".

The more developed a country is, the more complicated their systems are. Now that all services are being commercialised-education,healthcare,etc, very soon the term 'non-profitable organization' will disappear from the corporate dictionary.

Nail Art

Nails are no more layers of keratin but tools of expression. Designers and fashion gurus are using nails to articulate their mood, fantasyand imagination. Creativity, which was once expressed on clothes,shoes,accessories gradually moved from material to man in the form of tatoos and body piercing. Today it has become more sophisticated and has reached new arenas like nail art.

Nail art originated 5000 years ago in India as a form of manicure. A herb called henna was used by Indian women to decorate hands and nails which also had a soothing effect. Tatooing is also believed to have originated from henna which is also known as mehendi art. Nail care which started with manicure therapy like hand massage,nail filing ,polishing,painting slowly moved towards nail sculpture where nails were carved into different shapes. Gradually it developed into nail art with the emergence of acrylics, shimmers, nail piercing,rhinestones,etc.

Organized nail art however started with French Revlon in 1932 which introduced pigments became widely popular along with the French manicure.Nail industry uses about 10,000 chemicals for manufacturing various decorative nail products including fish scales, pearl essence,gels,glitters,rhinestones apart from hundreds of brushes including airbrushes which spray paint . Nail art has become more sophisticated like any other industry and has emerged as a serious profession to lot many designers. Digital nail art for instance, allows you to print any picture of your wish on your nail. Nanotechnology is used to build nail plates from inside out. Acrylic nails are preffered to natural nails for designing because of the sustainability and flexibility.

The recent interesting embellishment to nail art - fimo frootsies, which are polyvinyl chloride polymer clay drilled,sliced, cut,painted and made into beads/different shapes used to decorate nails.

While the traditional art emanated from India, Japan is believed to be the mother of modern nail art. Designer nail art market in Japan was estimated to be worth $2.2 billion in 2008. Nail art festival, which happens annually in Osaka is a stage for thematic innovative nail designs like 3D art.

The United States which covers the majority of world nail art market employs about 15000 employees, about 43% of them being Vietnamese.The size of US nail art market is about $20 bn and has more than 5000 professional establishments.A nail salon normally charges a minimum of $15 per treatment, provides an earning potential of $2000-$4000 to every nail artist employed there.

While the whole world is submerged in recession, nail art industry seems recession proof. With 160 million visits to spas and salons, the industry has grown 18% from the previous year. Women, surely are pleased by this wonder art and are a major force behind this creativity's flourishment. With advance technology being brought into this market, nail art is expected to become further more convoluted and pull in more market!

Kill boredom

"Necessity is the mother of invention" - so goes a saying. Must be true or else the world would not have got so many wonderful inventions. Internet is one such invention which not only kills boredom but also provides a sea of opportunities to learn,earn,network...

When pushed into a sea of boredom, many of us try to explore ways to get out of it. Volunteering, reading, music, gaming, etc etc. Or some of us might end up in internet networking sites. Networking sites are available today in different forms - social networks like orkut, myspace, facebook, professional networks like linkedin, other sites like Shelfari where people share their hobbies, sites like twitter where you let people know what you are upto. Then we slowly move on exploring other arenas. Some hit up with Swagbucks; an upcoming search engine which rewards for your searches. Interesting! With 50,000 fans in facebook, 20000 followers in twitter and much more, the engine is progressing everyday. There are also lot many sites like irazoo which are equally good in rewarding searches.

Another field which pays is online surveys. There are lot of sites like surveyhead, greenfield online,etc which pay for the surveys we take or for clicking the ads displayed on the sites. These rewards may be peanuts but something is always better than nothing...so if you have lot of free time, just give a try .

The stock market swing

A stock market is as enigmatic as a woman's mind ; deep and unpredictable. Even millions of analysts around the world try to predict its movement but have seldom succeeded. At times they rule and drive a country's economy; sometimes bringing wealth, sometimes taking wealth. A game where the money lost by someone is the money gained by another. The size of stock arket is abot $40 trillion, about 40 times the size of Indian economy.

Inspired by the enormous opportunities of wealth creation offered by stock markets, everyday retail investors park their money in stocks. Those who do not have the patience or time to track the market, take advantage of the mutual funds who professionally manage our money by investing in stocks. The recent hullaballoo being SIP (systemmatic investment plans) where every month a fixed amount is invested in stocks by the fund manager. No wonder that these plans received good recognition from retail investors as it takes advantage of the ups and downs of market. The SEBI, as a moderator, keeps changing the rules of the game now and then; latest being abolishment of entry load (a fee for puting money in a mutual fund).Good news for people who have burnt their fingers in the past bear run; analysts have predicted that markets are going to turn bullish again.

Commodities often rule the world economy. Steel, which once commanded the economy has lost its sheen in the current decade and has given way to oil. Oil bonds, which usually shows a negative correlation with equities (high oil price leads to high transportation, producion and operating cost for companies and hence reduced corporate earnings), are showing a positive correlation surprisingly. If we look at the recent bounce back in the market, oil price has also rallied parallely; meaning they both have gone up together. There is also a good demand increase in the market for oil as well as for equities.Hence there is no hard and fast rule in a market; after all if there is one there will not be any losers?

There are different ways to analyse a stock . The most common being:

- fundamental analysis which uses the company's financial,business,market,managerial strength to evaluate the value of a stock

- technical analysis deals with predicting stock movement using charts, graphs and patterns

All these tools will guide and give a fair idea about a scrip's performance; however there is no tool to find the certainity of a stock's movement. Blue chip (popularly traded stocks) are the favourites of low risk preferes, mid caps are preferred by moderate risk takers and small caps are preferred by high risk investors. It is always good not to put all your eggs in one basket but to have a combination of stocks in a portfolio.

Too much of anything is good for nothing; a rule of thumb is that an ideal portfolio is something which has about 15-20 different stocks and not more than that with an ideal mix from various industries, risk level and .

"A rupee earned today is worth more than a rupee earned tomorow". So utilize the magnanomous opportunities offerred by equities in various forms viz. mutual funds, derivatives, stocks and add wealth because higher the opportunity cost, higher will be the returns expected.

Hava Nagila...

Recently I happened to watch Usha Uthup's interview in television; what an amazing lady! In a period of classics, she broke all convetional music forms and emerged as a 'pop queen' having sung in all 15 Indian languages and 12 foreign languages. Neither she has a mellifluous voice nor has a professional training in music; yet she managed to twinkle in the world of music through her ever cheerful attitude and a magical smile that brings joy to the listener! However this post is not about her but the song she sang in the interview.

Hava Nagila- the Hebrewian song of joy! If you have seen Tamil movie 'Mozhi', you would have come across the song.Abraham Zvi Idelsohn is believed to have penned the song at the close of World War I to celebrate the British victory over the Turks. The song remained popular only in the Zionist cirles in United States and Europe .Lateron the American musicians who explored new avenues of music, turned to Hava Nagila for folk. Mambo legend Machito was one among them who brought Hava Nagila to American music. But one of the legends who made the world nod their head for Hava Nagila was Harry Belafonte! Following the success of the song in 1950s, he used to sing Hava Nagila always as the closing number for all his concerts and appealed the audience thorughly. However his performance at the Carnegie Hall in 1959 was the best selling record.The song then travelled through various decades, got remixed into all forms like reggae,punk rock, techno all across the globe among the Latinos, Africa, Macedonia...But still the original folk version remains the embodiment of Jewish song of celebration and joy!

So let us all rejoice along with Hava Nagila!

To Listen/Download: Hava Nagila- Harry Belafonte

An interesting encounter

It was a cool spring Sunday morn. I had called for a taxi at 9am to downtown. The taxi arrived at 8.45 sharp ; at 8.59 the driver started honking. I am used to starting at Indian Standard Time 9am which is 9.10am. I murmured the impatience of the taxi driver and locked the door.A yellow cab was parked in front of the house. The driver was a man of 60,. He had green eyes and a bald head with strings of snow white hair here and there. He did not show the peace of mellow age; he was rather aggressive. His face and eyes had wrinkles; signs of a long journey in life. He wore brown sun glasses which he took out quite often. I gave him the print out of my destination with the route map. His impatience reflected in the way he sipped a mug of coffee which he carried. We were quiet for some time.

Finally I broke the ice asking about his familiarity with the route. He replied something carelessly and started cursing the traffic with an Arabic accent. I realised that the traffic was the culprit of his annoyance. After moments of silence, he started asking about my native country, how I landed up here,etc...and started narrating his story. He is a Palestinian software engineer, who fought in Yassar Arafat's army, who got sick of wars and homicide, moved to America for a peaceful life. A father of doctor & engineer sons and a daughter who is a teacher. He laughed saying that he had one wife; a surprise! He was working on the data warehousing platform of a well-known American pharmacy.

Then why become a cab driver? It did not surprise me because in developed countries retired men who own a decent car, work part time as cab drivers and rent their cars. A fixed sum will be paid to the cab company everyday who in turn gives the addresses of callers. May be these men drive for joy or for a living or for some pocket money or just to be active!

I could see the pride in his eyes when he said he owns a BMW Z4. He gave his card and informed that he will take people in BMW if they call him directly and not through the cab company; at little premium! Not a bad deal!

I was flabbergasted to learn that his father is still alive owning 4 six storied apartment complexes in Palestine. Retired from Palestinian navy, he is currently a maritime agent.

I was perplexed whether to believe him or not but sure he had no intention of lying or boasting his pride. Nor was he narcissistic.I felt truth when he talked about his joint family, beloved wife and children.I was moved by his concern when he gave hand sanitizer and warned about swine flu. He denied the tip I gave, saying that he drives for fun. Nevertheless, he made my journey fun and memorable with his stories.

Eventually he smiled and bid goodbye. He is flying back home for his daughter's wedding. His golden tooth sparkled in the sun.I should call him one day for a BMW ride !

Melakartha Raga index (Continuition to my previous post)

There are hundreds of ragas in Carnatic music.But the 72 Melakartha ragas (மேளகர்த்தா ராகம் ) are the mother ragas from which others are born. Such derived ragas are called as 'Jenya raga' (ஜென்ய ராகம் ). While the melakartha ragas have all 7 swaras, jenya raga may or may not have all 7 swaras.

A raga is defined by its aarohanam (ஆரோஹணம்) and avarohanam( அவரோஹணம்) which is nothing but the boundary of the raga from its lowest to highest swara.

E.g. Mohanam is defined as:

Aa : Sa Ri Ga Pa Dha Sa (Lowest to highest swara)
Ava: Sa Dha Pa Ga Ri Sa (Highest to lowest swara)

It is not necessary that aarohanam and avarohanam needs to have same swaras in the reverse order.

The following table shows some numbers assigned for each Sanskrit syllable.





If you closely look at each row, they follow the similar pattern in our Tamil/Hindi alphabets.

Row 1: ka, kha...til nya
Row 2: ta,tta till na...so on and so forth

So this is known as "KaTaPaYa"dhi Sankhyay( கடபயாதி ஸாங்கியை named after the first syllable in each row.

Now,

1.Pick out a melakartha raga from the list below E.g. Nattabhairavi
2.Refer திindex value of its first two syllables in the above table. For Nattabhairavi - 0 for Na and 2 for ‘tta’
3. Now interchange the numbers assigned to the syllables. It is 20 in this case; hence the raga’s number is 20!

So meet you soon in my next post with another interesting topic!

Melakartha Raga Index:

1 Kanakangi
2 Ratnangi
3 Ganamoorti
4 Vanaspati
5 Manavati
6 Tanarupi
7 Senavati
8 Hanumatodi
9 Dhenuka
10 Natakapriya
11 Kokilapriya
12 Roopavati
13 Gayakapriya
14 Vakulabharanam
15 Mayamalavagowla
16 Chakravakam
17 Sooryakantam
18 Hatakambari
19 Jhankaradhwani
20 Nattabhairavi
21 Keeravani
22 Kharaharapriya
23 Gourimanohari
24 Varunapriya
25 Mararanjani
26 Charukesi
27 Sarasangi
28 Harikambhoji
29 Dheerasankarabharanam
30 Naganandini
31 Yagapriya
32 Ragavardhini
33 Gangeyabhusani
34 Vagadheeswari
35 Sulini
36 Chalanata
37 Salagam
38 Jalarnavam
39 Jhalavarali
40 Navaneetam
41 Pavani
42 Raghupriya
43 Gavambodhi
44 Bhavapriya
45 Subhapantuvarali
46 Shadvidhamargini
47 Suvarnangi
48 Divyamani
49 Dhavalambari
50 Namanarayani
51 Kamavardhini
52 Ramapriya
53 Gamanasrama
54 Viswambhari
55 Syamalangi
56 Shanmukhapriya
57 Simhendramadhyamam
58 Hemavati
59 Dharmavati
60 Neetimati
61 Kantamani
62 Rishabhapriya
63 Latangi
64 Vachaspati
65 Mechakalyani
66 Chitrambhari
67 Sucharitra
68 Jyotiswarupini
69 Dhatuvardhini
70 Nasikabhusani
71 Kosalam

72 Rasikapriya

Some mathematical gimmicks in Carnatic music

Legend Dr.Balamurali Krishna once beautifully described how Carnatic music got its name. In Sanskrit, “Karna" means ear and "Ataka" means something which is amusing/pleasing.Therefore Karnataka Sangeedham aka Carnatic music is the music which is pleasant or amusing to our ears!

‘Sruti matha, laya pitha’ is the crux of Carnatic music .It means the drone and rhythm are mother and father to music. Subduing sruthi and laya is required to master the art.Carnatic music expresses these two by the way of Raga and Tala respectively.

Raga:

A Raga is a sequence of swara/sound. There are 7 swaras in Carnatic music known as Saptaswara ("Sapta" means seven in Sanskrit) which stand for:

1. Sa -Satjamam
2. Ri - Rishabam
3. Ga - Gandharam
4. Ma - Madhyamam
5. Pa - Panchamam
6. Dha - Dhaivadham
7. Ni- Nishadham

While Sa and Pa are constants, the swaras Ri,Ga,Ma,Dha,Ni have further variants.
*Ri & Ga have 3 variants which are indexed as R1,R2,R3 and G1, G2, G3. Similarly Dha & Ni have 3 variants - D1, D2,D3 and N1,N2,N3. (Each variant has tongue twisting sanskrit names which I have ignored here for the sake of convenience)

*1-3 being biggest to smallest sound
*Ri,Ga,Ma,Pa,Dha,Ni are in ascending order of sound

Group I :R1,R2,R3, G1,G2,G3
Group 2: M1,M2
Group 3:D1,D2,D3,N1,N2,N3

*(Ri-R,Ga-G,Ma-M,Dha-D,Ni-N)

Each raga has the following qualities:

1.It has all 7 swaras
2.Within a group, the succeeding swara cannot have a smaller sound than its predecessor. E.g. N1 cannot follow D2 or D3. Likewise G2 cannot follow R3.
3.The swaras have to follow the regular sequence – Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa and Sa Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa
4.Each raga can have either M1 or M2

And so,

Group I can possibly have 6 combinations:

(i)D1, N1
(ii)D1,N2
(iii)D1,N3
(iv)D2,N2
(v)D2,N3
(vi)D3,N3

Similarly, Ra & Ga will have 6 combinations.

Putting all these together,

1 (of Sa) x 1 (of Pa) x 6 (1 of the 6 combo of Ri & Ga) x 6 (1 of the 6 combo of Dha & Ni) x 2 (1of M1& M2) = 1x1x6x6x2=72 melakartha ragas

One of the true heroes of Slumdog millionnaire has made it to the Cannes Red Carpet; when are the other two gonna make!

Ennai Theriyumaaa?

Emperu sadayappa, ilavatta nadayappa!

Angels & Demons

Angels & Demons, one of the most interesting thrillers by Dan Brown, is a novel based on the conflict between papacy and the scientific world in the ancient period. Unable to bear the competition from scientists, church plans to get away with science. The scientists in the mean time, form a secret brotherhood called 'Illuminati" in Galilieo's period and fight back. After lots of struggle, the church succeeds and relaxes.

One fine day in the modern era, the Illuminati reappears posing a threat to papacy and challenges to destroy the Vatican city.Robert Langdon, a religious expert from Harvard tries to solve the conundrums which lead to the path of Illumination thereby saving Vatican.

In this Ron Howard film based on Dan Brown's novel, Tom Hanks pairs with Ayelet Zurer to unlock the mysteries of Illuminati and save the Vatican.There are nailbiting twists and turns which make it difficult to guess the next move.The film, if captures the essence of the novel, will sure be a blockbuster.

Slated for release on: May 15, 2009

The Great IPL Tamasha

The Indian Premier League is an elixir to many Indians for whom cricket is God. It is quite an unsolved mystery why the government is still not declaring cricket as Indian national sport. All those cricket fans will vote for the governement. With election fever catching up in every nook and corner of the country, this will be a great tantra to catch vote banks. Or atleast cricket can be glorified as "national pastime" like the United States which calls baseball so. Media too can hit jackpots by showcasing the conflicts between parties who have disparities and the common man will have a good time watching the tamasha.

There are certain things still fuzzy about the great Indian Premier League:

1.Why do non-Indians play in 'Indian' Premier league?

2.Why is it hosted in South Africa when the tournament is called 'Indian' Premier League?

3.Is a man worth only some millions when we say a simple smile costs million dollars?

The most innovative financial instrument of the century will be the IPL derivative where human beings are auctioned and traded unlike the ho-hum stock certificates. When the whole economy is running helter skelter, men are sold like hot cakes. Dalal streetvasis who have burnt their fingers rather stomach, in the recent bear run are just waiting for the IPL auction to go public. Statements like 'Raina is a paisa vasool', Mathew Hayden is a duck who lays golden eggs and the formation of a Paisa Vasool Index(PVI), really makes one inquisitive to invest. Like the stock market which has blue chips, midcaps and small caps, IPL has "Star players" like Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni Rahul Dravid who are bought at premiums, "Established players" like Suresh Raina, Yousuf Pathan who are bought at moderate price but giving a higher ROI, "New entrants" like Ajinkya Rahane,Ajay Nayar who have the potential to give a higher returns to their buyers. The PVI might soon catch up in the list of most active indices like DJIA,Nasdaq,S&P,Sensex,Nifty. It is staggering to note how a sport drives an economy.

However IPL definitely serves as a platform for youngsters like Ajinkya Rahane who scored 1085 runs in 10 matches of Ranji Trophy in 2008-09.It is also commendable that a team comprises more of younger talent than players who have already established their stardom. Hockey, which is supposed to be the national sport, used to appear so far in history books and sports column, has entered into such a stage of extinction where it is highly doubtful that there a single picture of hockey available for the next generation. It is surprising that innovations are not happening to save and popularise hockey which is now an endangered sport.

Despite all these, IPL sure is a pleasure and relief for all of us - the media, the government, the investors, the players and the common man as well!

Nostalgia

Hailing from a small village in the Southern tip of India, dreaming about an MBA is some nightmare. And appearing for CAT? Forget about it!

When I happily went and informed my friends about my endeavour to bell the CAT, I was in for a surprise. Some looked horrified, some wondered whats CAT??? and some concluded that I am insane. And there were some inquisitive peers who interrogated my plans for training because there are no training institutes in our town. After lots of (brain)storming at home, I decided to move to Chennai and join an institute which claimed 30% of the students in IIMs were trained by them (why does every institute say the same!). The way these institutes train and the funny little tactics they adopt are unforgettable.

First day into the training institue...I was asked to take a mock test along with some 30 people. Somebody told me that it was to categorize the candidates according to the level of training they require. Unfortunately or fortunately all 30 who took the test with me were put up in the same batch! Shucks, all those 29 are dumbos/brilliant like me ? ;) Then the so called training classes started for honing our quantitave,verbal and logical skills. We were put through series of mock tests everyday at various levels; I always had this feeling on my mock CAT question papers 'are you mocking at me?' After the rigorous mocking sorry mock CATS, we were put into verbal training like JAM (just a min), extempores,etc to meliorate our GD skills. And the topic I got in my training session was Orange! And I have to talk for 5 mins on Orange(oops somebody got 'Pumpkin' it seems )Next topic was 'Imagine you are the current Miss World!'...Shoot! I dont need to talk but just cry and wave hands...lol...And then came third round with the topic "What would you feel if you are a crow now!!!'. My God everytime the topic is getting worser!

And finally the D-day came...as expected the feline was not friendly and pounced on me leaving traceable marks. But somehow I managed to get into an institute of some repute in Bangalore. IIMs are not lucky enough to have me.

My first day into the institute...first time out of home, first time in co-ed, first time in hostel..lots of first time stuff. One of my classmates said "oh u look like a frog outta well!", another exclaimed "you look like a frozen duck!"... Its high time you guys visit a zoo buddies...its noteworthy to say that they became my good friends lateron. Then came our first prof who started teaching the fundas of physics...pull mechanism, push mechanism blah blah...I got fuzzy thinking if I am sitting in the right class and my total mechanism stopped. It was more than half a decade since I left Science and so I did not understand head and tail of what he was talking. By the way it was supposed to be a quantitative analysis class. Thank God he never taught us after that!

And came the freshers party from our seniors; for someone like me who was not aware of the word 'booze', for whom dancefloor is totally alien... It is good that they flicker and dim the lights. Thus begun the business school life with lots of fun, partying, enjoyment, unforgettable holi, hard(ly) work, studies, presentations & assignments, projects,funny testpapers,grades, viva,campus interviews,so on and so forth.

I am not sure if it served the purpose of preparing the students for tomorrow's leadership but indeed it served as a platform to live independent, understand the value of people, seriousness of money (especially when it came to campus interviews it was a warfare), teamwork and spirit and thereby manage organised chaos. Naturally there were some thorns in the corsage but together we bloomed as a beautiful bouquet hiding all the thorns!

The Sixth Sense!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ-VjUKAsao

Quite often in our life we might have experienced some dejavu and wondered if this is my sixth sense or do I have an extra sensory perception? While "googling" has become an addiction, we tend to browse every new thing we encounter right from grocery to technology.We try to match our activities to the speed of our thought process.

This young chap from MIT medical labs has astounded the technical world by making the sixth sense a reality.While Microsoft brought out business at the speed of thought through some technological breakthroughs like Microsoft surface table, this guy has brought out "Reality at the speed of thought" I would say!

When I saw the movie Minority Report,it took me one full hour of follow-up, an explanation from my husband and some wikipedia gyan to understand what exactly was going on in the movie.I really demand a pat on my back for getting some thread before the movie got over! Thank goodness for this instrument looks user friendly and does not call for any hi fi technical knowledge. But what really makes me anxious is the human interaction level once this gadget hits the market. Thanks to some of my good neighbours who slam the door on face on sensing some homo sapiens.This device really claimed a Wow! when it highlighted the history of a person standing in the front. If it can have an inbuilt X-ray, camera,a scanner and a lie detector,world no more will need the CIA or FBI. But trust me the world is really gonna be like that in the near future. How more crazy can this world go?

The amazing fact is that this gadget, when put to use will really cut down a lot of cost for us
- no need for a cell phone, no watch, no more waiting in airport for long hours which calls for a french fries & coffee costing 200 bucks...And all these are going to cost only $350.

BTW can I go to Kaun Banega Crorepathi with this gadget ?;)

Now having talked about the financial implications and the influence this devce is going to have on humans, let me wrap up the marketing for "The Sixth Sense".

Kudos to Pattie Maes, Pranav and their team and wish them success! Visit the official site of technology,entertainment and design http://www.ted.com/ if you are more inquisitve.

Until I meet you in my next post, keep discovering!

Lonely poet!

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance...

Where do I start my blog? Converging all my thoughts and putting them in a single page is something which is very challenging. Some things are easier said than done???

So here I am...beginning with my favorite lines of wordsworth...These lines mean a lot to me now as I am wandering like a lonely cloud in this new land trying to explore ...Something which made me curious is the ravishing beauty of mother nature.

I do see ten thousands of flowers (though not daffodils), dancing to welcome the vernal equinox.True that loneliness makes you visualise the hidden beauty of nature, unwind the joy inside you and makes you sing ooh la la la.

It brings out the hidden potential inside you. Helps to discover your hidden capabilties! Wonder what non sense I am talking about???

See you soon in my next post with some more nonsense :) Until then keep discovering yourself,have fun and enjoy life!!!