URDU ART AND STAGE DRAMA.

Urdu Art and Stage Drama.

During the second half of the 19th century, Urdu was the main spoken and written language of the northern half of the subcontinent and understood in almost all the principal cities.

The Parsi were the pioneers in establishing a commercial theatre, that lasted from 1873 to 1935 and influenced all the other regional theatres. Though located mainly in Bombay and Calcutta, the Parsi companies toured the subcontinent with huge staffs, sets, and an army of players.

The best known playwright of this period is Agha Hashr (1876-1935), a poet-dramatist of flamboyant imagination and superb craftsmanship. Among his famous plays are Sita Banbas, from the Ramayana; Bilwa Mangal, a social play on the life of a poet, whose blind passion for a prostitute results in remorse; and Aankh ka Nasha, about the treachery of a prostitute's love, with realistic dialogue of a brothel. Many of Hashr's plays were adapted from Shakespeare: Sufaid Khun was modelled on King Lear, and Khun-e Nahaq on Hamlet.

His last play, Rustam-o-Sohrab, the tragic story of two legendary Persian heroes, Rustam and his son Sohrab, is a drama of passion and fatal irony. Theatrical companies were large-budgeted affairs. Plays opened with the actors in full makeup and costume, their hands folded and eyes closed, singing a prayer song in praise of a deity, and generally ended in a tableau.

Sometimes at curtain call the director rearranged the tableau in a split second and offered a variant. Actors were required to know singing, dancing, music, acrobatics, and fencing and to possess strong voices and good physical bearing.

In improvised auditoriums with bad acoustics and packed with more than 2,000 people, actors' voices reached the farthest spectator.

Plays began at 10 o'clock and lasted until dawn, moving from comedy to tragedy, from pathos to farce, from songs to the rattle of swords, all interspersed with moral lessons and rhyming epigrams.

The droll humour and realism of the comic interludes remain unsurpassed in contemporary Urdu drama. Important playwrights of this period were Narain Prasad Betab, Mian Zarif, and Munshi Mohammed Dil of Lucknow.

All took inspiration from Hindu mythology and Persian legends, transforming these tales into powerful dramas. Imtiaz Ali Taj  was a bridge between Agha Hashr and contemporary Pakistani playwrights. His Anarkali, the tragic love story of  Anarkali, and Crown Prince Salim unfolds the love-hate relationship of a domineering emperor and his rebellious son. Brilliant in treatment and character analysis, this play has been staged hundreds of times by amateur groups and has entered the list of Urdu classics.

In the absence of a professional company, Urdu theatre has found it difficult to strike roots.

After 1947 many Muslim actors and writers were absorbed by the Indian film industry in Bombay, and they found it difficult to adjust their great talent to amateur theatrical clubs.

All the same, plays have been staged in Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi. The best productions have been those dealing with topical themes--refugee problems, new adjustments, the corrupt bureaucracy, the Kashmir issue, and other sociopolitical issues. Agha Babar in Rawalpindi produced Burra Sahib, an adaptation of Gogol's Government Inspector, setting it in Pakistan. Tere Kuce se Jub Hum Nikle by Naseer Shamshi, describes the pathetic condition of an aristocratic family in Delhi that is forced to leave home because of communal riots.

In Lal Qile se Lalukhet Tak, by Khwajah Moinuddin, the comedy arises out of the pitiable condition of the refugees who leave their well-settled existence in Delhi dreaming of prosperity, take a tedious journey, and arrive homeless in Karachi to find shelter in thatched hovels.

Ali Ahmed, an avant-garde actor-director in Karachi, presents his plays with polished stagecraft and esoteric appeal. Lahore remains the centre of amateur theatre based on the tradition of the late directors A.S. Bokhari and G.D. Sondhi, both former principals of the Government College in Lahore. In 1942 G.D. Sondhi built the Open-Air Theatre, situated on a small artificial hillock in the Lawrence Gardens and perhaps the best in all of South Asia. It has remained the centre of dramatic contests and festivals and is a favourite of visiting dancers and actors.

The actor-playwright Rafi Peer, with his knowledge of Western theatre as a result of his training in Berlin in the 1930s, has helped to develop Pakistani theatre. Professional in approach, he has produced radio and stage plays and has been a critical colleague of A.S. Bokhari and Imtiaz in the revival of amateur theatre.

OUR RELIGION IS ALIVE.

DANCE.

Dance.

Dance is the movement of the body in a rhythmic way, usually to music and within a given space, for the purpose of expressing an idea or emotion, releasing energy, or simply taking delight in the movement itself.               Dance is a powerful impulse, but the art of dance is that impulse channeled by skillful performers into something that becomes intensely expressive and that may delight spectators who feel to dance themselves.

Dance is an art, a form of expression that utilizes bodily movements that are usually rhythmic, patterned and accompanied by music. Dance is one of the oldest of art forms, being found in virtually every culture and attested to in records of cultures long since extinct.

Dance is a part of all rituals. Farmers dance for a plentiful harvest, seasonal festivals, religious fairs, marriages, and births are celebrated by community dancing. A warrior dances before his Goddess and receives her blessings before he leaves for battle. A temple girl dances to please her God. The Gods dance in joy, in anger, in triumph. The world itself was created by the Cosmic Dance of Lord Shiva, who is the Nataraja, the king of dancers, and worshipped by actors and dancers as their patron.

Religious festivals are still the most important occasions for dance and theatrical activity. The Ram-Lila, Krishna-Lila and Ras-Lila in North, the Chhau masked dance-drama in Saraikela, in Bihar, and the Bhagavatha mela in Melatur village in Tamil Nadu are performed annually. During the Dashahara festival every village enacts for a fortnight the story of Rama's life, with songs, dances and pageants. The Jatra in West Bengal is a year-round dramatic activity, but the number of troupes swells too many thousands in Kolkata during the Puja festival.         The hill and tribal people dance all night to celebrate their community festivals and weddings rich in masks, pageants, and carnivals. For the usually all-night folk dramas, people come with their children, straw mats, and snacks, making themselves at home. At these performances there is a constant inflow and outflow of spectators. Some go to sleep, asking their neighbours to awaken them for favourite scenes. Stalls selling betel leaves, peanuts, and spicy fried items, adorned with flowers and incense and lighted by oil lamps, surround the open-air arena.

The clown, an essential character in every folk play, comments on the audience and contemporary events. Zealous spectators offer donations and gifts in appreciation of their favourite actor or dancer, who receives them in the middle of the performance and thanks the donor by singing or dancing a particular piece of his choice. The audience thus constantly throws sparks to the performer, who throws them back. People laugh, weep, sigh, or suddenly fall silent during a moving scene.

In both folk and classical forms of drama, the performer may lengthen or shorten his piece according to audience response. During a Kathak dance, the drummer, in order to test the perfection of the dancer, disguises the main beat of his drum by slurs and off-beats, a secret he shares with the audience and announces by a loud thump that is synchronized with the dancer's stamping of the foot. At this point in the dance the spectators shout, swaying their heads in admiration. They show their approval and disapproval through delighted groans or sullen headshakes as the performance goes on. In the Rasa-Lila, the audience joins in singing the refrain and marks the beat by hand clapping. At a climactic point the people rock and sway, rhythmically clapping and singing. These practices bind the performers, chanters, and spectators together in a sense of aesthetic pleasure.

In some classical dance forms, such as Kuchipudi, the dancer sings in voiceless whispers as she dances.           In Bharata-Natyam the dance movements are like sculpted music in space. In Kathak the rhythmic syllables beaten out by the dancer with her feet are vocalized by the singer and then chirped out by the drummer.           No folk dancing is complete without the use of drum and vocal singing. Women's folk singing such as the Giddha in the Punjab and the men's Kirtan in West Bengal takes the form of dance when the rhythm becomes fast.        In folk theatre this relationship is even more apparent. Raslila dance sequences are interspersed with the singing as a decorative frill, to accentuate emotional appeal, or to mark the climax of a song. The Yaksha-gana hero gives a brisk dance number to announce his entry. In many folk Bhavai, Terukkuttu, and Nautanki, the characters sing and dance at the same time or alternate. Ballad singers from Orissa and Andhra Pradesh dramatize their singing by strong facial gestures, rhythm of the ghunghru and execute dance phrases between the narrative singing.        

CORRUPTION ERADICATION.

Eradicate Corruption.

                                                                                                                                                                     The Misuse of Power Office, Resources vested in the authority to administer it                                                              

for personal or party gain is seen growing.  In 1961, LB Shastri as Home Minister appointed

Satnam Committee to frame anti-corruption measures to nab corruption at the                               hands of public-servants and misuse of funds by semi-autonomous bodies.                                       GL Nanda in 1962 as the next Home Minister laid special stress on anti-corruption measures.                                                                                                                                                                                    But after 1966 Indira Gandhi came to power all was forgotten.                                                      Corporate bribery, trading influence, nepotism electoral frauds, embezzlement                              cases were a day to day affair.  Kickbacks from International contracts like                                    Bofors scandal brought notoriety to Rajiv Gandhi Government that he lost and                               had to sit in opposition party in the Parliament.  Then came the alliance led Governments.                                      

The PMO no longer could control the alliance led ministers, they gained control of their ministry and used the government for its own benefit rather than for the benefit of the country. 

In consequence, corruption and nepotism took hold at all levels of administration.                              In addition, with the challenge of the notables gone, their class itself broke into countless factions and groups, each working for its own advantage by supporting the candidacy of a particular group forming close alliance with corresponding counterparts. After Rajiv, therefore, accession and appointments to positions came less as the result of ability than as a consequence of the political maneuverings of the congress led political parties. Those in power found it more convenient to control the people by keeping them uneducated and inexperienced, and the old tradition by which young ones were educated in the field was replaced by a system in which all of them were isolated through hatred and prejudice of a selected caste and creed,  limited to such education as its permanent inhabitants could provide. In consequence, few of the after Rajiv Gandhi  had the ability to exercise real power, even when circumstances might have given them the opportunity. But the lack of ability did not affect the dissident’s desire for power; lacking the means developed by their predecessors to achieve this end, they developed new ones.

After Rajiv’s death, Sonia and others gained power by playing off the different factions and by weakening the office of PMO, the main administrative vehicle for factional and party influence in the country. As the PMs lost their dominant position following the downfall of

VP Singh ministry, power fell first into the hands of  Sonia and her team, and then into the grasp of the Third Front. No matter who controlled the apparatus of government during this time, however, the results were the same--a growing paralysis of administration throughout the empire, increasing anarchy and misrule, and the fracture of society into discrete and increasingly hostile communities followed by the era of alliance-led Governments especially Pawar’s NCP Party and      both the major political parties of Tamilnadu.  

KALIDASA.

Kalidasa. (370-450 AD.)

Sanskrit poet and dramatist, Kalidasa is the greatest Indian writer of any epoch.

The six works identified as genuine are the dramas Abhijñanashakuntala, Vikramorvashi, and Malavikagnimitra; the epic poems Raghuvamsha and Kumarasambhava; and the lyric Meghaduta.

Little is known about Kalidasa's person or his historical relationship. His poems suggest but nowhere declare that he was a priest. His name, literally presumes that he was a Shaivite, though occasionally he eulogizes other gods, notably Vishnu.

A Sinhalese tradition says that he died in Sri Lanka during the reign of Kumaradasa, who ascended the throne in 517. A legend makes Kalidasa one of the "nine gems" at the court of Vikramaditya of Ujjain.

It is certain only that the poet lived sometime between the reign of Agnimitra, the second Shunga king  170 BC, the hero of one of his dramas, and the Aihole inscription of AD 634, which lauds Kalidasa. He is apparently imitated, though not named, in the Mandasor inscription.

An opinion accepted by many is that Kalidasa was associated with Chandra Gupta II who reigned c. 380-c. 415. The most convincing but most conjectural rationale for relating Kalidasa to the brilliant Gupta dynasty is simply the character of his work, which appears as both the perfect reflection and the most thorough statement of the cultural values of that serene and sophisticated aristocracy.

Tradition has associated many works with the poet; criticism identifies six as genuine and one more as likely "Rtusamhara," perhaps a youthful work. Attempts to trace Kalidasa's poetic and intellectual development through these works are frustrated by the impersonality that is characteristic of classical Sanskrit literature. His works are judged by the tradition as realization of literary qualities inherent in the Sanskrit language and its supporting culture. Kalidasa has become the archetype for Sanskrit literary composition.

In drama, his Abhijñanashakuntala is the most famous and is usually judged the best Indian literary effort of any period. It tells of the seduction  Shakuntala by King Dusyanta, his rejection of the girl and his child, and their subsequent reunion in heaven. The epic myth is important because of the child, for he is Bharata, ancestor of the Indian nation.

Kalidasa remakes the story into a love idyll whose characters represent a pristine aristocratic ideal: the girl, sentimental, selfless, alive to little but the delicacies of nature, and the king, first servant of religious and social law and duties, protector of the social order, resolute hero, yet tender and suffering agonies over his lost love.

As in all of Kalidasa's works, the beauty of nature is depicted with a precise elegance of metaphor that would be difficult to match in any of the world's literature.

The second drama, Vikramorvashi, tells a legend as old as the Veda, though very differently. Its theme is the love of a mortal for a divine maiden; it is well known for the "mad scene" in which the king, grief-stricken, wanders through a lovely forest apostrophizing various flowers and trees as though they were his love. The scene was intended in part to be sung or danced.

The third of Kalidasa's dramas, Malavikagnimitra, is of a different stamp--a harem intrigue, comical and playful, but not less accomplished for lacking any high purpose. The play contains datable references, the historicity of which have been much discussed.

Kalidasa's efforts in kavya are of uniform quality and show two different subtypes, epic and lyric. Examples of the epic are the two long poems Raghuvamsha and Kumarasambhava. The first recounts the legends of the hero Rama's forebears and descendants; the second tells the picaresque story of Shiva's seduction by  Parvati, the conflagration of Kama, and the birth of Kumara, Shiva's son. These stories are mere pretext for the poet to enchain stanzas, each metrically and grammatically complete, redounding with complex and reposeful imagery. Kalidasa's mastery of Sanskrit as a poetic medium is nowhere more marked than in the lyric poem, the "Meghaduta," contains, interspersed in a message from a lover to his absent beloved, an extraordinary series of unexcelled and knowledgeable vignettes, describing the mountains, rivers, and forests of northern India.

The society reflected in Kalidasa's work is that of a courtly aristocracy sure of its dignity and power. Kalidasa has perhaps done more than any other writer to wed the older,  religious tradition, particularly its ritual concern with Sanskrit, to the needs of a new and brilliant secular Hinduism. The fusion, which epitomizes the renaissance of the Gupta period, did not, however, survive its fragile social base; with the disorders following the collapse of the Gupta Empire, Kalidasa became a memory of perfection that neither Sanskrit nor the Indian aristocracy would know again.

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY.

Indian Philosophy.

One of the major trends of Indian philosophy is a kind of mysticism. The desire for union of the self with something greater than the self, whether that be defined as a principle that pervades the universe or as a personal God.

Hindu mysticism includes both these forms and a great many that lie in between. At one extreme is the realization of the identity of the individual self with the impersonal principle Brahman, the position of the Vedanta school of Indian philosophy, and at the other is the intensive devotional aspect to a personal God, called by a variety of names, that is found in the bhakti sects.

There are four things common to most mystical thought.

First, it is based on experience, the state of realization, whatever it is called, is both knowable and communicable, and the systems are all designed to teach people how to reach it.

It is not, in other words, pure speculation.

Second, it has as its goal the release of the spirit-substance of the individual from its prison in matter, whether matter be considered real or illusory. Matter is the cause of the suffering.

Third, all the systems recognize the importance or the necessity of the control of the mind and body as a means of realization. This takes the form of extreme asceticism and mortification, and sometimes, at the other extreme, it takes the form of the cultivation of mind and body in order that their energies may be properly channeled.

And, finally, at the core of  mystical thought is the functional principle that knowing is being. Thus, knowledge is something more than analytical categorizing: it is total understanding.      This understanding can be purely intellectual, and some schools equate the final goal with omniscience, as does yoga.

Knowing can also mean total transformation, if one truly knows something, he is that thing. Thus, in the devotional schools, the goal of the devotee is to transform himself into a being who, in eternity, is in immediate and loving relationship to the deity.

But despite the fact that these are both ways of knowing, the difference between them is significant. In the first instance, the individual has the responsibility to train and use his own intellect. The love relationship of the second, on the other hand, is one of dependence, and the deity assists the devotee through grace. The distinction is generally made by the analogy of the cat and the monkey. The cat carries her young in her mouth, and thus the kitten has no responsibility. But the young monkey must cling by its own strength to its mother's back.           It is usual for writers on the subject, following Surendranath Dasgupta, the historian of Indian philosophy, to list five major varieties of Hindu mysticism, the five having arisen in historical order as follows.

The sacrificial, based on the Vedas and Brahmanas.

The Upanishads, in which are found the beginning of both monistic concerned with a unitary principle of reality, immanent in the world and theistic systems.

The yogic, relating to physical and mental discipline; the earliest known text of this school is the Yoga-sutra of Patañjali, dated variously between the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD. According to yogic mysticism, man realizes union by means of physical and mental control of himself, which in turn leads to control of both natural and divine forces.

The Buddhism, in which enlightenment is the realization of the four Truths--the fact of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the means of arriving at these three truths: the Eightfold Path. The ultimate state, the culmination of one path of the Eightfold Path, is nirvana, "the blowing out," the extinction of desire.

The devotional, or bhakti, type of mysticism comprises a range of theistic systems, with a conception of absolute dualism between man and God on the one extreme, and a conception of qualified non-dualism on the other. Although there are traces of this devotional aspect throughout the history of Indian religion, it began to develop in earnest in South India in the 7th through 10th century AD with the hymns of the poet saint Alvars.

RIDDLES and PROVERBS.

Proverbs and Riddles.

Proverbs are the butter and oil with which words are eaten. The art of conversation and argument depends, in fact, on their use. By them the speaker shows his learning. Use of proverbs also enables the speaker to attack an opponent obliquely, without mentioning his name or the subject of the dispute.

Proverbs express not only  people's inherited wisdom and code of behavior,  they also create  an atmosphere of fun and enjoyment, imagination and sense of humour.

"If a child washes his hands, he will eat with kings"  

"If the earthworm does not dance in front of the cock, he will still be eaten, but at least the cock cannot say that he was provoked" 

Riddles usually take the form of a statement, not a question.

In the following riddle :-  What is it?

"People run away from her when she is pregnant, but they rejoice when she has delivered"

The answer is a gun. 

Often the riddle is an exercise in metaphorical speech, intended to display the questioner's imagination rather than to test the cleverness of the audience 

Riddle. What is it?

"We tie a horse in the house, but its mane flies above the roof,"

The answer is "fire" and "smoke"

DIETING.

Dieting.

Dieting regulates our food intake for the purpose of improving our physical condition, especially for the purpose of reducing obesity, or excess body fat. Dieting plans are based on the reduction of any of the macronutrients, fats, carbohydrates, and proteins that constitute the major portions of food that a person eats, other than water and that are necessary sources of energy.

The following are some major approaches to dieting.

(1)   Controlled dieting such as that directed by weight-control clubs and health programs that include education on nutrition, group reinforcement, specially constructed diets that provide adequate amounts of nutrients, and weight-maintenance regimens that are designed for long-term use.

(2)   The so-called "prudent diet" is designed to control blood lipids and cholesterol for those persons at risk of coronary artery diseases. The prudent diet and its relatives stress a low-saturated and high-unsaturated fat content and limited amounts of sugar; they restrict red meat and stress poultry and non-oily fish.

(3)   (3) "Formula diets, provide for the intake of a minimum of necessary nutrients--especially protein--in liquid form. Many such plans are packaged with liquids or powdered supplements, to be consumed variously from one to four times a day, modified versions call for two liquid meals and one meal of conventional food.

(4)   The advantages of such formulas are ritual and reduced decision making, and the disadvantages are that dieters learn nothing about eating habits because choices are made for them and, also, that the more restrictive of these diets can be quite dangerous to the health. Restrictive plans should be undertaken with medical supervision.

(5)   The low-carbohydrate, high-fat, and high-protein diets, which became rather popular from the early 1970s, restrict sugars and starches to a minimum by stressing meats, poultry, fish, and cheese. The effect on the body is to produce ketosis and dehydration; thus initial weight loss may be marked. Although calories are not counted, the usual caloric intake is reduced because most human bodies are unable to adapt rapidly to the marked change in dietary composition. Weight is lost quickly but is returned as soon as normal eating habits are reestablished. The richness of the diet, in general, may produce dangerous effects related to the excretion of large amounts of uric acid and other nitrogenous end products and to the high saturated-fat content of the diet.

(6)   High-carbohydrate, high-fibre diets promote the consumption of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and whole grains. Dietary fibre is a general term for indigestible carbohydrates that make up the cell walls of plants. Such fibres, as bulking agents, may make dieters feel satiated on food of fewer calories than normal. The best of the high-carbohydrate diets are moderate in protein and low in fat and promise slow weight loss with exercise and careful nutritional consideration. Some plans, however, are so low in calories or so low in protein or fat as to be nutritionally unsound.

(7)   Fasting may consist of skipping a few meals or going a few days or weeks without food. Fasting may serve the needs of those persons with just a few pounds to lose, but it is not effective for obese individuals or for anyone seeking long-term weight control. Fasting can be medically dangerous.

(8)   Diet aids- starch blockers, benzocaine, diuretics, and thyroid hormones--come in pill form and are intended to suppress the appetite or reduce stomach space. Many such aids--such as amphetamines--have proved to be dangerous, whereas others are simply ineffective. 

BR AMBEDKAR.

 Ambedkar Jayanti falls on 14^th April.

“An idea needs propagation as much as a plant needs watering.”

Bhimrao Ambedkar (1891–1956)
Founding Father, modern India
MA 1915, PhD 1927
LLD 1952 (hon.)

Ambedkar was a leader in the struggle for Indian independence, the architect of the new nation's constitution, and the champion of civil rights for the 60 million members of the "untouchable" caste, to which he belonged.

He spoke and wrote ceaselessly on behalf of "untouchables," but his passion for justice was broad. In 1950 he resigned from his position as the country's first minister of law when Nehru's cabinet refused to pass the Women's Rights Bill. Ambedkar was committed to maintaining his independence, and many of the positions he staked out in a long and complex relationship with Gandhiji.

BR Ambedkar was selected by Nehru as the first law minister of the government of India (1947-51).

Born of an untouchable Mahar family of western India, he was as a boy humiliated by his high-caste schoolfellows. His father was an officer in the Indian Army. He was awarded a scholarship by the Gaekwad the ruler of Vadodara, he studied at universities in the United States, Britain, and Germany.

He entered the Baroda Public Service at the Gaekwad's request, but, again ill-treated by his high-caste colleagues, he turned to legal practice and teaching. He soon established his leadership among Harijans, founded several journals on their behalf, and succeeded in obtaining special representation for them in the legislative councils of the government. Contesting Mahatma Gandhi's claim to speak for Harijans, he wrote What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables.

In 1947 Ambedkar became the law minister of the government of India. He took a leading part in the framing of the Indian constitution, outlawing discrimination against untouchables, and skillfully helped to steer it through the assembly. He resigned in 1951, disappointed at his lack of influence in the government to pass Women’s Rights Bill. 

Being Healthy.Wealthy and Wise.

BE HEALTHY. 

HAVE BREAKFAST LIKE A KING.

HAVE LUNCH LIKE A COMMONER.

HAVE DINNER LIKE A PAUPER.

THAT'S WAY TO BE HEALTHY WEALTHY & WISE.

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No more coffee, no more tea, for me,

Milk with banana is good for me,

No much sugar no much salt, for me,

Honey with cheese is good for me.

No more potatoes and fries for me,

Veg salad with curd milk is good for me.

No more medicine or sleep pills for me,

A cup of luke warm milk is good for me.

No more health-club exercise for  me,

 A hectic day in court is good for me.

----------------------------------------------------

IS IT WISE?

A woman invests  everything in a husband.

It is pure and simple gambling. By a single act

to marry him,  she puts at stake  the life, the career,

her future,  everything . Does the man deserve ?

 ---------------------------------------------------------------

   SHE.  Ch.19. 

  Describing   the undescribable,

  Scrutinising the unscrutinisable,

  Speaking    the unspeakable,

  Writing        the unwritable,

  Discussing  the undiscussable,

  Loving         the unlovable,

  Lost in directions undirectionable.

  IMAGINE THE UNIMAGINABLE.

-----------------------------------------------.

   THE BEST VIEW OF THE MORNING STREET,

   I viewed you in the window down the street,

   It was a feast for the eyes and the mind;

   It linked hearts of the viewer and the find.

   I remember, I remember the window where you stood,

  Straight down the lane, I  passed  for good,

  Once the scootee dashed into a larry,

   I had to say enough sorry-sarry.

FOUR FUNDAMENTALS OF LIFE.

1. Is to have a healthy body.
2. Is to have enough  food in the house.
3. Is to have a noble spouse
4. Is to have a good son or daughter.

SWAMI VIVEKANAND. (Narendra Dutt)

Swamy Vivekanand.  (Narendranath Dutt)

“It is not important how much long you live,

It is important how much you give to the world.”

He lived for 39 years.

He was a devout disciple of Swamy Ramakrishna.

He asked his Swamy if he had seen God.

His Guru said “Yes.”

He believed in his Guru.  No further arguments.

He joined the team of Guru’s followers.

He visited last point at Rameshvaram. He swam the sea.

He sat on a lonely piece of stone in the midst of the sea.

He meditated.  He achieved Divine Knowledge.

He returned to Madras.  He toured the entire country.

He practised sermons for the uplift of the poor and the down-trodden.

He was sent to Chicago, USA.

He sailed in May 1895.  He reached Chicago in July 1895.

In Chicago, his lectures made history.

He addressed the Americans as  ‘Brothers and Sisters,’ a new thing to them.

He returned to India and involved himself in the service of the poor.

Ramakrisna Mission sells his sermons in different languages.

He died at an age of 39.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

In the field of legal profession, you have to prove yourself on every occasion.  Every day is a one-day match.  You have to win. You can not afford to lose. You have to be in the good books of the Judge by your knowledge, sincerity and punctuality. You have to serve your client. You have to see that justice is done.  It is a triangular conflict in which you have to steer out yourself with tact and hard-work.  Your future, your life depends on your performance.  You have to fight like a warrior on a battle-field.  After long experience, you learn that your mind has to be set for the legal profession. Mind set for legal profession is seen in hereditary generation of lawyers than a new entrant with no legal heritage.

It is not easy for every one to walk in and claim to be lawyer, for practicing the law in the Superior Courts.  You have to be up-to date on subject wise authorities. You have to assist the court.  You have to listen to your client. You have to find ways and means and arrange strategy to achieve your goal. Legal profession is like a jealous mistress which does not allow you to live normal life with your family.  You have to sacrifice social functions and family obligations to be a successful lawyer.

You are a student to learn something new in the legal jugglery of words every day . Since Hamurbi's time, in the name of administration of law, everything has been done which otherwise could never be done.  The kings, the rulers the governments wielded enough power to control its people in the name of administration of law and justice.   It is accepted that Rule of Law is the crux of social existence. Without the existence of the rule of law, our society would turn into a lawless jungle of beasts. 

A SNEAK PEEK INTO LEGAL PROFESSION.

TAKE A SNEAK PEEK INTO LEGAL PROFESSION. 

Take any profession. For gaining mastery over a particular profession, academic qualification with high degree of University is not sufficient. This is the theoretical aspect.  Educational qualification is a license, entry-pass to enter a particular profession.  After achieving it, the real journey of experience starts. Practical ways, methods, code, ethics of a profession are different from the ideological lessons given in University courses. Life is a road of thorns, ups and downs. The up-hill journey begins now. Many compromises have to be made.

The profession is run on likes and dis-likes.  You have to have your own circle, a group to survive in a particular profession where the life is full of uncertainties and worries. Survival of the fittest is the rule in every profession. It is a rat-race. You have to be much more than your colleague. Result oriented methods prove helpful in your elevation to the point of a recognised professional. 

For the first ten years, ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration has to be shed by every professional.  Within next twenty years, the ratio of inspiration and perspiration gets swapped. Now the real life begins.  You are at the top.  Do not remain under an illusion. You have to remain there.  How to remain there is the crux of the real professional caliber.

Blaming the Judges who is Helpless.

JUDGING THE JUDGES.

The rich and the powerful could do anything and everything as they wished. But at the same time, it is also true that  the law right from the investigation stage to the verdict stage has to  be flawless. It gets tainted by time it reaches the hands of the judge.  This can be done by strict supervision and scrutiny, process of monitoring.

 The process is exploited, facts are mis-recorded,  misinterpreted twisted and turned by the mighty and the rich with reference to politics related people. They exploit the system to serve their selfish ends.  In many cases it is seen that the law does not touch the wealthy and the mighty. Their lawyers twist turn misread the provisions of law to serve their ends.  They escape from the clutches of law. 

The law enforcement and law administration are two brothers who have to work in harmony and synthesis and are complimentary to each other instead of finding faults with each other.   Some lawyers mis-interpret the law in their favour.  They sell the law.

The Courts have turned into helpless spectators of being witness to such frauds of justice.  This has turned out to be a day to day affair.  Faulty investigations, intimacy with the criminals, facilities to the criminals in jails are a routine matter.  In the Bombay jail, the criminal is attending a moojrah night at a reputed place.  In his place in the jail there is a dummy, duplicate fellow.  If there was a checking, everything would look in order as per the head-count.  They spend money like water. They get what they want.  This has to be stopped.

The above are a few isolated cases cited about the abuse of the process of the law.  The present arrangement is the only available workable and on the whole satisfactory system in existence.  With the coming of computers, it is hoped the method would still improve and not only justice will be done but  it will appear that justice is done.

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TEA and POETRY.

TEA. With Poetry.

My eyes sleep-laden, on the dial did fix,

When clock said seven, I said six,

I peered around with sleepy looks,

As the sun began to flirt with my books.

I bid good-bye to sleep with sorrow,

When a pegion in glee bid me good morrow.

To the pegion’s plea had I agreed,

They may stay and well may breed.

My mosquito-net, I raised a bit high,

When some trespasser stung me good-bye,

And my lark like clock I eyed with haste,

Its too low song had made me late.

Sure that I shall sell

Before it turns a nightingale.

And straight I went to the stately stove,

With its fire beneath and flame above.

On it began the sacred rite,

Where solid and liquid measure their might

Where sugar to water loses the fight.

When it was dropped, it was lost to sight.

The victor liquid with leaves is encrowned.

And lo ! it looks like nector embrowned.

With its cup in hand and taste on tongue,

Between sense and sleep full well I swung,

Being puzzled by a point obtruse,

If drink can make or mar the muse

The warbler of the woodnotes wild,

He was of muse an erring child,

He may have gift or may have gout,

But will drink grace a drinking bout!

And Omar calls for a cup of wine,

Or Keats a cup of falernine!

Hindu Religion. List of Puranas and its history.

The Puranas.

The period of the Guptas saw the production of the first of the series traditionally 18 Puranas voluminous texts that treat in encyclopaedic manner the myths, legends, and genealogies of gods, heroes, and saints.

The usual list of the Puranas is as follows:

the Brahma-, Brahmanda-, Brahmavaivarta

MaIkandeya-, Bhavisya-, and Vamana-Puranas;

the Visnu-, Bhagavata-, Naradiya-, Garuda-, Padma-, and Varaha-Puranas;

and the Shiva-, Linga-, Skanda-, Agni- (or Vayu-), Matsya-, and Kurma-Puranas.

Many deal with the same or similar materials.

With the epics, with which they are closely linked in origin, the Puranas became the scriptures of the common people; they were available to everybody, including women and members of the lowest order of society, and were not, like the Vedas, restricted to initiated men of the three higher orders.

The origin of much of their contents may be non-Brahmanic, but they were accepted and adapted by the Brahmans, who thus brought new elements into their orthodox religion.

At first sight the discontinuity between Vedic and Puranic mythology appears to be so sharp that they might be considered as being of altogether different traditions.

Yet it soon becomes clear that they are in part continuous and that what appears to be discrepancy is merely a difference between the liturgical emphasis of the Vedas and the more eclectic genres of the epics and Puranas.

For example, the great god of the Rigveda is Indra, the god of war and monsoon, prototype of the warrior; but for the population as a whole he was more important as the rain god than the war god, and it is as such that he survives in early Puranic mythology.

Little is learned in the Veda of goddesses, yet they rose steadily in recognition in Puranic mythology.

Although in the Puranas some of the Vedic gods have an afterlife in which their importance is reduced, other gods, previously of less official significance, arise. The two principal gods of Puranic Hinduism are Vishnu and Shiva. Both are known in the Vedas, though they play only minor roles: Vishnu is the strider who, with his three strides, established the three worlds heaven, atmosphere, and Earth and thus is present in all three orders; and Rudra-Shiva is a mysterious god who must be propitiated.

Puranic literature documents the stages of the rise of the two gods as they eventually attract to themselves the identities of other popular gods and heroes:

Vishnu assumes the powers of those gods who protect the world and its order, Shiva the powers that are outside and beyond Vishnu's. To these two is often added Brahma, creator of the world and teacher of the gods.

Although still a cosmic figure, Brahma appears in the Puranas primarily to appease over-powerful sages and demons by granting them boons.

In the Puranic literature of AD 500 to 1000, sectarianism creeps into mythology, and one god is extolled above the others. Of prime interest are cosmology, myths of the great ascetics who in some respect eclipse the old gods, and myths of sacred places, usually rivers and fords, whose powers to reward the pilgrim are often cited and related to local legends.

Places of Interest to Visit in USA. Important Sites.

There is perhaps no other country that offers a wider

variety of places of visit than the United States. The

Historic Landmarks, Natural Wonders and Great Cities stretch

from coast to coast.  It contains a wide spectrum of landscapes

from snow capped Mountains to Deserts teeming with life and

dramatic rock formations to two great Oceans. Important Sites.

Art and Culture.

www.artresources.com

www.nga.gov

www.rockhall.com

Education.

www.carolhurst.com

www.patersons.com

www.teachers.net

Theater and Films.

www.4theatre.com

www.ew.com

www.hollywood.com

www.ifilm.com

www.pathfinder.com

Business.

www.armchairmillionaire.com

www.morningstar.com

www.sec.gov

www.smartmoney.com

World News.

www.cnn.com

www.worldnews.com

Languages

www.travelang.com

Government

www.whitehouse.gov

Miscellaneous

www.ancestry.com

Vitamins for Human Body.

VITAMINS.  A. B-1. B-2. B-3. B-6. B-12. C.D.E. and K.

VITAMIN A.

Maintains health of specialized tissues like the Retina skin teeth.  Found in dairy products, cereals and green vegetables.

VITAMIN B-1.

Thiamine. helps to convert food into energy. Aids function of the heart, brain, nervous system. Found in cereals bread milk.

VITAMINB-2.

 Riboflavin. Works with other B vitamins to promote growth and tissue repair. Releases energy from carbo-hydrates. Produces red-blood cells.  Take green vegetables and pulses.

VITAMIN B-3.

 Niacin. Amino Acid Tryptophan helps to prevent pellagra, scaly sores, mental systems.

Found in dairy products nuts and dry-fruits.

VITAMIN B-6.

 Pyridoxine. For healthy brain function. Red blood cells. Protein breakdown and synthesis of

Antibodies in support of immune system. Available in beans legumes fruits juices leafy vegetables.

VITAMIN B-12.

 important for metabolism blood cells maintenance of nervous system including the brain and spinal cord. Available in milk dairy products green vegetables and pulses.

VITAMIN C.

Is called Ascorbic Acid. Promotes healthy immune system helps to heal wounds and connect tissues and aids to absorb iron. Available in citrus fruits green peppers strawberries, tomatoes sweet and white potatoes.

VITAMIN D.

Promotes body’s absorption of calcium essential for bone development and teeth. Found in cheese butter milk cereals green vegetables and pulses.

VITAMIN E.

Protects cell-membranes and tissues.  Take green vegetables and pulses.                                   VITAMIN K.Benefits in  blood clotting. Take cabbage cauliflower spinach and other leafy green vegetables and  cereals.

Information,Knowledge and Wisdom.

Knowledge Information and Wisdom.

Most of us possess information, which we confuse with Knowledge or Wisdom.

l.  The kettle is boiling hot in the kitchen….information.

2. My fingers would get burnt by touching the boiling hot kettle…….knowledge.

3. I would not touch the boiling hot kettle……wisdom.

Knowledge by Observation.        I discard the first source. I do not trust my own impressions.  But I have to believe what I saw just Like as I had felt. Knowledge is power.

The highest point a man can attain is not knowledge or virtue but something even greater than that         “the Sacred Awe”, about Him, a Halo around Him, and he is worshiped like a God.   

To find knowledge you may begin with certainties, then you may end up with doubts.           Therefore begin with doubts about knowledge to end up with certainties about knowledge.     Knowledge is conformity of object and the intellect.

Knowledge about Nature.                                                                                                                           

Infinite Knowledge, inherent knowledge, knowledge by Observation, Knowledge about God- all this knowledge well-digested, ready at command will assist the feeble and the friendless to discountenance  the haughty and the lawless, to procure redress of wrongs, the advancement of right.

“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,                                                                                    The proper study of man-kind is man.                                                                                            Placed on this Isthmus of a middle state,                                                                                               A being darkly wise and rudely great,                                                                                                      With too much knowledge for the skeptic side,                                                                                 With too much weakness for the Stoic’s pride."                                                                                                                

Knowledge of human nature is the beginning and the end of the political education.      

Knowledge about God, His Glory shows His creation of this world, its day and night speaks of His Knowledge.  We must have knowledge about God and not heap of offerings.                 

For search of knowledge one roams out finds his experience, compares, co-relates and confirm with his experience.  Then it becomes knowledge. 

A Court Trial Judge comes across evil, wrong-doers, fraudsters, cheaters, murderers parading in front of him at the trial time. Thus he knows of evil tactics of wrong-doers, fraudsters, cheaters and murderers, and not from his soul. He has seen evil being displayed before him existing in others.  This knowledge becomes his guide and not personal experience.

People with too much of knowledge are difficult to be governed.

The world is a chess-board.  The pieces are the phenomina of the Universe the rules of the game are the laws of the Nature.  The Player on the other side remains hidden. But he finds out our every move, every mistake and ignorance.  The great end is not mere knowledge but with it action also.