The Enchantress of Florence

This book is basically a tale of a lost sister in Babar’s Family and of two great cities Fatehpur Sikhri and Florence.It talks really a lot about the customs and how Florence evolved through renaissance.I read it at a slower pace , because it was more of history :)A man calling himself “Mughal of Love” arrives at Akbars court and tells him that he is his uncle(Babar’s Sisters son) and thats how the tale goes.

Here goes my most liked and least liked lists about the book,

Rushdie has beautifully portrayed Akbar’s reign, his court , and the people there.I really enjoyed the way he narrated AbulFazl’s tactics.

Akbar , for once has been portrayed with his weakness as well his greatness.It made me wonder at his thirst for knowledge and at the same time his regret for being dyslexic.However i had little knowledge about the renaissance and I had no prior reading so I could not understand Florence’s history much

He has rightly explained how an woman wants to make her will win in a men’s world and how she succeeds using her power of enchantments

I was not happy with how he had ended.Or rather I did not get it fully How can Akbar raise someone from death? Is he that infatuated towards that enchantress to be so  imaginative of her rising from dead ?? No clue.

I also wonder why  Jodha has been portrayed as  a  lady who was created by Akbar out of pure imagination and she incfluenced him totally by living with him in his unreal world.It was funny when Akbar’s mother tried tried talking to Jodha imagining she was sitting in a chair next to her

I was not able to fully enjoy the humor as some part of it was dry and sarcastic. Hmm , so I had fun reading the book though i did not like it as Shalimar the Clown, it was worth spending some fifteen hours

Bengalooru Channagidhe !!

Two months passed since I came here and well , I am getting used to Bangalore ;-)This is one of the very few cities of really high cost of living in India.Luxury invites everybody here and thats how the living cost has shooted up.The climate is awesome in the months of june and july.(I am yet to see the summer here ) , just as everybody else here would comment.It is also a city of varied food ;-)starting from south indian , north indian and upto chinese food.(except for the fact the hotels are pretty costly). I have made a visit to all nearby hotels and markets. I am basically not used to throwing money away for anything just because it gets sold in a bigger airconditioned shop , or it has a good brand name.

The sad part is I hardly meet people who spend money reasonably.nobody even bothers to analyse the worth , before paying for anything.May be its an illusion at all places that costlier things are better ;-)Well, a similar thought shared in a blog made me write this.Life for people in most of the cities is spending what they earn and the more they earn the lesser they care for resources and the more they take money for granted, as simple as that…

And I have learnt a bit of Kannada also :)I am learning to read and write now. And about the stay here I am happy to be here , meet new people and learn a  new language

Emacs for NonStop!!

I had a bad time using TEDIT (an old full screen block mode editor)with minimal features.So I was typing programs in a linux machine(emacs) and transferring it to a Nonstop system.

My manager helped me in finding this emacs port for nonstop.

http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/TrampMode

Hope it helps others as well.

Joined HP!!

Hello all,

Its  a long break Well I joined Hewlett Packard India this month !! I work for the NonStop Kernel team!! Thats all for now !!

A feast for thought from an exponent of Kathak!!

I had a really good time yesterday as i had an opportunity to watch and relish one of the rarest dance shows i have ever seen!!Smt Rani Karna , a great Kathak dancer and teacher performed a lecture demonstration on Kathak in our college.This was a program organised by  SPIC MACAY (Society for Promoting Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth) along with cultural club of TCE.

Miss Somini Devanath , the chief disciple of Smt  Rani Karna accompanied her.Thery started out with an introduction to Kathak, its history , how it originated and became popular. They demonstrated taals in Kathak, and how they make subtle expressions and dance movements based on the raga (and lehar).Being an average Indian ignorant of the cultural maserpieces like this dance form,  I was able to figure out the art form behind this dance and I would say it gave me a clear picture about Kathak.They talked on  the significance of the dress , their spins so on so forth.

They demonstrated al these by dancing simultaneously describing the taals.They presented dance for Shiv vandhana - Prising lord Shiva, as it was Shivrathri night.

The favourite subject in Kathak is Krishna.Looks like no Kathak item will be complete without a Krishna-Gopika item.So there was an invocation to krishna, describing his charisma as a heart throb and as a warrior holding the chakra. Then there was a dance performance on  Holi being celebrated in Brindavan by Krishna and Gopis.All these were master pieces , I enjoyed them utmost though i have not watched Kathak much before this!! Their demonstration helped us to grasp the concept that was performed and to understand the nuances.It was totally a visual treat and food for thought !!! SPIC MACAY is doing a commendable job in creating an awareness about the Indian Cultural master pieces amongst youth.Hats off and thanks for such wonderful programs !!!

Jodhaa Akbar!!

I happened to watch Jodha Akbar a movie directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and it is also being produced by him.His  movie lagaan (which nearly reached the oscar doors) tells his name!Wel I had lots of expectations for this movie I also had a picture of Akbar’s personality and i had framed how he would have been , from the pages of history i read.The choice of lead actors ,(Hrithik and Aishwarya) didnt impress me much though (star value?).Well nobody has a clue how Akbar would have looked like if they havent read Akbar i  Nama or Ai Ni Akbari

The characterization and screenplay were  perfect !! Director has really taken lots of  pains to note each and every minute detail of the movie and make it reflect the history.Actors were good , expecially one who played Adham Khan, Maha Manga were really good!! I felt seeing them really , after all i have read about them.Every actor played his character well , King Hemu , Jodhaamal, Thodarmaal and  others …Anyways did Akbar really  forgive Sheriffuddin? Nobody ever knows if Jodhaa Bai really existed,she is being called by different names by different historians though!! The director had wanted to portray a love story , and the courage to choose such a historic love story which is not much remembered by history is laudable!!! Hats off!!

For people like me , who relish reading the pages of history and for every Indian who feels Jalal-Ud-din Mohammed Akbar was the crown of Mughal dynasty in India, a great King who worked on propagating releigious tolerance and created a secular , prosper , and really vast Mughal Empire in India , Jodha Akbar is worth a watch !!!

An honour indeed !!

It was truly  a rare honour to propose vote of thanks for the Declare Open Ceremony of the CAREC (Centre for Advanced research in evolutionary computing ) of our college of which Bharat Ratna Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam was the chief guest.

I was so delighted to see the great man and felt so previliged abt it.He was talking on the use of science and technology to carry out societal transformation.He talked on various fields in which students have to bring out transformation . He gave lot of ideas on research projects and briefed areas in which there is a lot of scope for quality research has to be carried out.

Dr.Kalam also pointed out the importance that professors of Indian Universities have to give to research.He quoted an incident that once  when Sir C.V.Raman was invited by the president of India for the Bharat Ratna Award function to get the honour , Raman denied gently explaining a genuine reason that he had to sign his student’s Ph.D that day!!

A truly different way of Living !!!

Thanks to my neighbour for introducing me to JK!! I ve started off  reading JK and now i am through a book “A wholly different way of Living“  its a dialogue between JK and Professor Allan Anderson of San Diego State university.This happened in 1974.

J K starts it beautifully stating the importance of individual transformation needed to bring out societal transformation.Then he moves on to talk on conflict in human relationships, responsibility of a human being , fragmentd human mind , fear , knowledge desire so on an so forth. I hardly find words to express how i really wonder his great thinking. Its worth reading , really a hundred times !!!

2008 !

This year the first day january 1 2008 turned out to be different. We had been to visit an old age home in pykara , Madurai.There are around 45 old people and  3 children there.It is ashram founded by Narayana Guru(a saint who visited and stayed at that place). I dont remember the details of the founder exactly.We had bought some sweets for them that day.There is only one person who takes care of these old men and women.Six of them cook for all the others.

We were able to help them a bit  financially.Planning to do in future also.

The book and the movie ..

Two things impressed me recently and thought i should blog about them.. One was a movie , The Prestiege , Christopher Priest’s novel picturised so well ! I actually watched it an year after its release!!The story revolves around two magicians(angier, borden) who initially work as ringers for a magicians and then start their carriers seperately after a conflict due to Julia’s death(angier’s wife , suspected to be killed by borden).Their rivalry, obsession towards magic have be beautifully portrayed.The lead roles also have been wonderfully played.

The other one is The Brief history of time which i read for the second time.The more i read the more i wanna read and wonder at Hawking’s genius mind and the simplicity with which he puts his thoughts. I also wanna read the sequel Universe in a Nutshell.If somebody has a copy i ll be glad to get it !!

I am also reading Vandhaargal Vendraargal by Madhan - I got it as my birthday gift from my friends thanks to them