April 2010 – Just Jo

Linkaholic

Last week, I listened to an episode of Radiolab on the Placebo effect. It particularly made a lot of sense as I am going through the Homeopathic medication for sinus, which is accused of making just a placebo effect, and I enjoyed this podcast thoroughly. After you listen to this episode, you will be left questioning almost everything that is known to comfort us – medicines, religion, devotion etc. And we would realize how powerful we are by ourselves and how weak we are too, for not seeing what we can do to ourselves. Listen to Placebo.

The second one is from a TED show, where a politician demonstrates the best way to get in touch with our politicians. He says, we need to use the analog tools such as a pen and paper to do that in this digital world. And he talks about how. Listen to Omar Ahmad‘s TED talk.

Thrissur Pooram 2010

Another Thrissur Pooram has passed and we had a wonderful time this year too. The heat did affect the crowd a bit but the people did not seem to mind it much. I went to the town with a couple of my friends and also clicked some photos. To those of you who don’t know what Thrissur Pooram is, go to the Wiki page and read.

Thrissur Pooram

Municipal Corporation of Thrissur distributes butter milk for free in their stalls, such as these, which is a big relief for those who get thirsty in this hot climate.

Pooram is a festive season for pickpockets too. The police force has put up big flex banners in and around the city, such as these, with photos of the known thieves with the warning "Beware of these people" and police phone numbers to report crimes.

Pooram sale

Inside the Vadakkumnathan temple. The famous Elanjithara Melam had just begun.

A view from Vadakkumnathan Temple

Elephants are a big attraction to the visiting tourists during the Pooram days, becaue you can see so many of them roaming around the city in these days.

During the Elanjithara Melam

I couldn't get close to the Elanjithara Melam, but the music being played was so addictive that all the hands were raised to catch up to the rhythm

Another shot from Vadakkumnathan Temple

Vadakkumnathan Temple

Almost all Malayalam television channel crew were present there

Thrissur city at night

Brightly lit buildings of Thrissur in the night

One of the "Panthals" of Thrissur Pooram

The second "panthal"

And the third one

There were small Poorams coming to the city from the surrounding areas at night

I was amazed to see so many local astrologers and card readers around the city. Men and women. Mostly older people. They were sitting in one line and they circled almost a quarter space of the city! And yes, they had many customers even in the night time!

Paramekkavu Temple in the night of Thrissur Pooram

Pooram exhibition is also a major attraction of Thrissur Pooram. You can spend your time visiting and shopping in this exhibition center while you wait for the early morning fire works.

Meet Masarat Daud

I have a thing against the Burqa. I think that thing represents a system of oppression designed by religion and men. Burqa, in my mind, has always remained to be a symbol of oppression, no matter how much those religious folks try to justify it by calling it a way of “protection”. So I was slightly amused when this Burqa-clad woman followed me on Twitter and had a look at her profile and there she is – A Burqa-clad woman who is fighting the very same thing that I think Burqas represent – Oppression.

Meet Masarat Daud, who is working to set girls of our rural areas free from oppression using education as a tool and bringing an event like TEDx to India’s villages, even with fighting the religious orthodoxy. Masrat runs an educational program called 8 Day Academy. She is changing the face of education in rural India through her work and is responsible for hundreds of girls getting the opportunity to attend schools. Since February 2009, Masarat has held three sessions of 8-Day Academy in her hometown Fatehpur, Rajasthan, training teachers and students from a local school in Computers and in Public Speaking & Communication skills. After eight days of Computers training, the team was able to use MS Word, MS Paint and know the theory of computing. All this by people who had never seen a computer before!

And then she brought TEDx to Shekhavati and you can read/listen more about her exciting and inspiring stories here and here . Also see her TEDx Shekhavati speech below:

The need for corruption

You know what, I have a huge admiration for Karan Thappar. What makes him different than the rest of interviewers from the Indian television scene is that, he is well-researched and very much up to the point in many of his interviews, rather than throwing some silly questions and being happy and content in just asking some questions.

Here he puts forward a good thought in an interview with Farooq Abdullah while they talk about Shashi Tharoor and the recent IPL controversy:

Farooq Abdullah: I don’t think so, I don’t think he needs to be corrupt

Karan Thapar: He doesn’t need to be?

Farooq Abdullah: No

Karan Thapar: Need doesn’t determine corruption.

Ever since Tharoor was contesting for MP from Trivandrum, the people who were supportive of him was of the opinion that he could not be corrupt like the other politicians because he doesn’t need to be corrupt. Because he gets – and they made up some big figures about this – a large amount of pension from United Nations and runs his own business. Some say it is 40 lakhs per month. Some say its more than that. But I really don’t get that point. Is privately owned wealth a good reason enough to claim that people wouldn’t be or needn’t be corrupt? If so, why isn’t that kind excuse offered to other rich and allegedly-corrupt politicians in India? How is Shashi Tharoor any different?

Happy Vishu!

Vishukkani

എല്ലാ മലയാളി സുഹൃത്തുക്കള്‍ക്കും ഈ വിഷു ദിനത്തിന്റെയും പുതു വല്‍സരത്തിന്റെയും നന്‍മയും മംഗളങ്ങളും നേരുന്നു.

Kabhi Shashi, Kabhi Game

Now that Modi’s links with IPL team owners of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab have emerged, the whole IPL controversy is getting more interesting, wide and ugly. I think there is enough material to make a movie out of the whole story. There is glamor, big money and beautiful women involved. What more do you need to make a good story line for a Bollywood movie?

So here is announcing the movie (title suggested by @rameshnair):

Kabhi Shashi, Kabhi Game
The story of an interlocutor and his friends

The movie will have two versions. In South India, Shashi is the hero and Modi is the villain. Up in the North, it is Modi in the lead and Shashi, the villain. Sreesanth will play the role of a crouching tiger in both the versions. Make up and costumes will be handled by Ms. Pushkar.

In the North Indian climax, the other Modi, Modi N, will be seen protecting Modi L and finally securing an IPL team for Ahmedabad and Shashi will be seen being left alone with a beautician in the Chala market in Thiruvananthapuram, looking for land with cheap prices to build IT parks.

In the South Indian climax, Shashi will win over Modi L, securing an IPL team for Kochi and building a cricket stadium near the Smart City project area. Modi L will be seen being left alone with a South African model and sniffing 5 grams of Cocaine.

Part of the profits made from the movie will go to Mr. Modi and Twitter. We are looking for prospective producers for the movie, so do start bidding. And yes, multiple stake holders who are family members, friends and acquaintances of yours are welcomed.

One man’s dream

This happened many years back. It was the early hours of the night. I was sitting in the veranda with the earphones of the walkman plugged into my ears. Soft, soothing music flowed. I fell into a light sleep.

Then…

An empty beach in the twilight. Wind blows lightly. Soft piano tones.

There stands a woman, so beautiful, her white robe floats in the wind. She stands against me and smiles at me. A set of violins and cellos rises, with a light tone of flute. Music is heavenly.

Now she is walking along.

A hug. Eyes closed. Kiss.

Then rises a set of strings of violin and cello. Her fangs, goes deep into my neck, sucking off my blood.

Then I woke up. The music was almost over. Soft piano tones were playing to mark the end of the song. I sat there wondering what just happened. I wasn’t in a deep sleep. I could remember the melody which was being played, while having this dream. Yet, that dream, however short it was, felt so real. I took the album cover and searched for the song name. I read the song title in total awe – One Man’s Dream.

That was the first and only time that I can remember when music created a clear imagery while listening to a song.

Etho January Maasam (cover)

This song is one of my most favorites from M Jayachandran. A very melodious number, originally sung by Karthik, I love this song for its soulful music and orchestration. I had posted an unplugged version of this song before and now here it comes with full karaoke track. This is my first recorded song after marriage which means after a gap of more than 2 months. 🙂

Dedicating this song to all those “modernists” of music who say melody sucks (the term “melody” here is not used in the musical terms, but as a substitute for soulful music) but seldom knows that even most of their musical favorites have a strong base of melody. The God of the modernists is A R Rahman, who is mostly remembered for his melodious numbers than his forgettable fast paced songs (remember Roja, Karuthamma etc). They say A R Rahman is “fresh” in orchestration, even though he has not created anything fresh than what many Indo-American fusion artistes have already done. But since film music is the popular form of music in India, Rahman continues to don the role of bringing freshness to Indian popular music scene (I respect A R Rahman for another thing – for giving proper credits to lead instrumentalists in the album cover).

I pity those modernists whose idea of “Freshness” in music is very limited. They often point to other musicians from across the globe – for example, a Sufi singer who has sung only Sufi music to his death, or a musician of a particular Genre who has never tried any other Genre than what he/she has been singing from the very beginning and they call it “fresh”. But when an Indian musician/singer does the same thing, it’s called “boring”. And their enemy #1 is K J Yesudas.

I listen to all kind of music, perhaps except death metal and appreciate each of them for it’s own good and according to my mood to hear a particular genre of music. But to call an entire society’s taste “boring”, just because they listen to Yesudas or melodious music in general? Well, Pity is the word.

Music: M Jayachandran
Lyrics: Gireesh Puthenchery
Movie: Orkkuka Vallappozhum
Singer: Karthik

Download “Etho January Maasam (cover)” MP3 file (4:09 MB)

NYT calls the terrorists “Militia”

A New York Times article says this in the title: “Militia Charged With Plotting to Murder Officers“. Digging down into the news I could read the following:

In an indictment against the nine unsealed on Monday, the Justice Department said they were part of a group of apocalyptic Christian militants who were plotting to kill law enforcement officers in hopes of inciting an anti-government uprising, the latest in a recent surge in right-wing militia activity.

Going by the news piece above, what should you call this group of people? A “Militia” or a group of “Terrorists”? Since NYT chose to use a lose term “Militia” instead of “Terrorists” in their news article, let us have a look at what Princeton University, a prestigious institution of America, says about a terrorist:

“A terrorist is a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities”.

Now look back into the NYT news piece to see how they described the “Militia” and if that matches with the definition of a terrorist –

“part of a group of apocalyptic Christian militants (read from the definition – “uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities“)
who were plotting to kill law enforcement officers (read from the definition – “employs terror” as they were planning to kill the guardians of law and thus terrorizing the society)
in hopes of inciting an antigovernment uprising (read from the definition – “employs terror as a POLITICAL WEAPON“), the latest in a recent surge in right-wing militia activity“.
They also “organizes with other terrorists in small cells” as you can read from the report.

And what is a Militia? Wiki says –

“The term militia (in English, pronounced as milisha) is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens[1] to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service.”

A “Militia” is something like Salwa Judum in India. And even such Militias can terrorize (like many accusations have risen against Salwa Judum since it’s formation). But even though there are clear definitions, NYT takes it lightly with the all-white, Christian “Militia”.

Evidently, if this was any other “militia” as such, particularly of Asian Muslims, the Western media would immediately tag them with terrorism, but when it comes to a Christian terrorist group, it is called a “Militia”. This is something like what went here in India when a Hindu terrorist group was caught. Many people declined to call them the terrorists. In the public eye, they were, at the most, fundamentalists, fanatics or extremists. Not the terrorists. As for the public, we associate terrorism with a certain group of people and no one else.

CNN article: Right-wing extremism may be on rise, report says

Info via a tweet from @flyyoufools

Happy Easter

Hope – it is the beginning of all good things in life. It tells us that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. And that Hope & the joy it brings is the message of resurrection & Easter.

Happy Easter, everyone. Stay positive.