Jas Blog

Morning of July 22nd 2009. When the dawn of an eclipsed son passed along over India, see the irony of nature – Varanasi, the famous religious epicenter of India, where inhabitation dates back to thousand of years. It is infact one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Irony lies in the fact that any eclipse, especially solar, is attributed as a very unholy and inauspicious happening. In India, many people often won’t eat because the lack of sun makes food impure, and expectant mothers do not want to give birth on the day there is an eclipse as it is thought some babies could be born with birth defects.

“This is a belief deeply rooted in Indian society. Couples are willing to do anything to ensure that the baby is not born on that day,”  Shivani Sachdev Gour, a gynecologist at the Fortis Hospital in New Delhi, told AFP  .

Some astrologers even warned of impending terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and civil wars too. Many also took a dip in holy rivers to cleanse themselves after the eclipse and some avoid cooking and eating during the eclipse.

But do not think this superstition thing is limited to India only, its everywhere. Lets see why people thought earlier that we have eclipses, as per mythology.

PAST

India – In Hindu mythology, Rahu is a snake that swallows the sun or the moon causing eclipses. He is depicted in art as a dragon with no body riding a chariot drawn by eight black horses. The rahu kala is considered inauspicious.

In China, it is believed that the dragon swallows the sun during eclipse. So they would beat drums to produce great noise and commotion to frighten away the dragon while, the Japanese would cover the wells so that the demons in the cover of darkness during the eclipse would not drop poison into them.

In Romania people believed that werewolves and demons ate up the sun during the eclipse. To frighten them away they would light up huge fires and ring church bells would be rung throughout the eclipse.

Tahiti believed that Sun and Moon were in love with each other but still could not be together as they used to fight a lot. So once in a while they meet each other and make love, which causes eclipse.

At a time of a solar or lunar eclipse, there is a recommended prayer (salatul-kusuf) that is performed by the Muslim community in congregation.

Present

Knowledge has changed things now, though it has not eradicated them all. The new age of informed people are more keen to witness the historic event, and accept it as just another celestial event as Leonid showers, Jupiter hole, Mars and Venus appearance. Here are some pics where you can religious faith people enjoying the event.

Sadhus, or Hindu holy men, watch the solar eclipse through specially-designed viewing glasses in Allahabad, India.

Devotees observe a solar eclipse as they take holy dips in the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Sarawati River in Allahabad.

Photos courtesy – http://ibnlive.in.com/photogallery/1448-2.html

Jas Current Affairs, People Cultures, Life, Philosophy

Aimless meandering around the booking sites like BookMyShow.com surely helps once in a while. Last Wednesday I came across this advert for a live musical being organised in an auditorium near my home in Hyderabad (India) – Mamma Mia, based on the hit – world’s most successful musical by same name.

The show was performed by newly floated Hot Shoe Entertainment Company, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the legendary Greek fable-based musical Mamma Mia. The show is a veritable treat for Abba fans who slip into nostalgia, courtesy pop favorites like Waterloo, Dancing Queen, Money money money and a whole range of ABBA hits. The energy and enthusiasm with which the crew performed, showed they haven’t taken audience gratis a bit. You could see the enjoyment on the faces of crew members as they danced away the play and showered the euphoria, being part of it. The very face of the lead lady here (on the right) who played Sophie, the bride, says it all! Am impressed beyond limits young lady, hats off to your enjoyment of the career, for many lesser and higher mortals miss it. The way she could dance, act and sing at same time, reminded me of a friend from Nagpur who has similar skills.

And to make sure the energy gets siphoned in the audience too, crew invited audience too to be the part of the all time famous Mamma Mia song, which saw about 50 people taking stage and stairs to join the troupe in singing and dancing on the song. As Jeffrey Vardon, co-producer and choreographer, put it this evening – “Mamma Mia has history of running house full and still having 50% of seats vacant as public could not keep their feet from dancing along!“

For those who do not know about ABBA, they were the legendary group of Pop culture of 70s. Mamma Mia just collected their songs and threaded a musical play around it, tweaking the songs a bit. Over here the troupe has made sure the dresses and play’s flow matches the actual movie. The songs, which are sung live by the way, captured that charisma of ABBA. The lady who plays Donna (mother) also happens to be single mother in real life. I must admit I was lucky that I had not seen the original so could take a fresh look at the performance, rather than compare it all the while.

After the play ended on lines of original musical, the two producers came on stage to give a damn neat performance dripping with elegance and panache. The control that beautiful Varalaxmi Sarathkumar showed here, stamped her élan over the final sequence. (see below)

Another thing that happened was that I could not convince any friend of mine to shell Rs.770 for a musical play, so I was left all alone over there (with other families, essentially two fat ladies  in post 50s to accompany me on either side!) to savor the performance. And do I regret it? No way! Maybe one of the best Sundays I have spent in Hyderabad!

Psst.. next performance of the crew is in Banglore, then Mumbai before they leave for Dubai and Colombo.

Jas Current Affairs, People Life, Music, My Life

You may ask me to mind my language, but if after reading this post you still believe in saying these words to me, I would ask you to mind your language.

One morning of Nov 2008, Shamsia Husseini and her sister were walking through the muddy streets to the local girls school when a man pulled alongside them on a motorcycle and posed what seemed like an ordinary question.

“Are you going to school?”

As they replied affirmative, the man pulled Shamsia’s burqa from her head and sprayed her face with burning acid. Three pairs of men on motorcycles began circling the school. One of the teams used a spray bottle, another a squirt gun, another a jar. They hit 11 girls and 4 teachers in all; 6 went to the hospital. Shamsia fared the worst. Scars, jagged and discolored, now spread across Shamsia’s eyelids and most of her left cheek. Her vision has started going blurry now, making it hard for her to read.

Atifa Ali, 20, left, Shamsia Husseini, 17, center, and Fatima Sakhi, 19

You may discount it off as an one off incident, after all Taliban and and other fundamentalists are making news for all wrong reasons daily. But let me bring more knowledge on latest events to your indifference. At least 98 people from an Afghan girls school were admitted to a hospital on Tuesday (yesterday) for headaches and vomiting in the third such episode in three weeks, officials and doctors said. Officials are suspecting gas poisoning.

Students were lining up outside their school in northeastern Afghanistan when one girl collapsed, said the school’s principal, Mossena, who was herself in a hospital bed gasping for breath as she described the event. She said a strange odor had filled the schoolyard. Then other girls started passing out. Ms. Mossena said she did not know what happened next because she collapsed and woke up in the main hospital in Muhmud Raqi, the capital of Kapisa Province, which lies just northeast of Kabul. The episode was the third in three weeks in which girls became sickened at school by what the authorities described as a gas cloud. A similar event took place late last month also in Parwan, when dozens of girls were hospitalized after being sickened by what Afghan officials said were strong fumes or a possible poison gas cloud.

Local mosques are splashed with posters shouting “Don’t Let Your Daughters Go to School”.

There was an ancient crime called Sati earlier in our customs of ancient India. This is a bigger crime as Sati was done under a belief, which itself was barbaric and savage. But such incidents are done under hatred and need for a male dominance sparked by the jealousy. This is worst! I do not believe in judgment day, but I hope it comes for these rotten souls where they get damned and anathemized to suffering themselves equivalent to what they have caused to every single human ever.

The impostors of God/Allah should see themselves to understand their own mentally ill psyche. One who can not value a lady as a mother, sister or a daughter; who can damn her to burqa to hide her body and face and then rape them throwing off the same burqas, who beat their own women and lecher around at the sight of other women, who teach the others the Allah/God’s way of living and then filth around in liquor and opium wilting the same lives of Allah/God’s children, who talk of eroding the other reliogions than theirs, but promises to leave if given money/Zazia, blackmailing their own self… this ONE is surely one of the worst social bastard of our time.

What answer do we give to them?

“My parents told me to keep coming to school even if I am killed,” said Shamsia, 17, in a moment after class. Her mother, who like nearly all of the adult women in the area, is unable to read or write says, “The people who did this to me don’t want women to be educated. They want us to be stupid things.” And I can not agree any more with her.

I do not know what Islam Taliban is teaching, what Hinduism these Sena people are preaching and what sikkhism the ‘Babbar Khalsa’ was teaching. Any teaching where a person hurts some one else, where a decision of one is imposed on other is a stinking fake teaching.

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/world/asia/13school.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/world/asia/14kandahar.html?_r=1

Jas Current Affairs, People Cultures, Experiences, Philosophy

Atlas Shrugged

Recession has had its effect in strangest of places. Economist has posted how in this turbulent time, college students approaching Ayn Rand’s legendary ‘Atlas Shrugged‘ novel. When biggest of the pillars of a highly relied upon system start crumbling, its natural for the new generation to have ideological shifts and their questioning of the earlier established philosophies.

THE ECONOMIST — Reviled in some circles and mocked in others, Rand’s 1957 novel of embattled capitalism is a favorite of libertarians and college students. Lately, though, its appeal has been growing. According to data from TitleZ, a firm that tracks bestseller rankings on Amazon, an online retailer, the book’s 30-day average Amazon rank was 127 on February 21st, well above its average over the past two years of 542. On January 13th the book’s ranking was 33, briefly besting President Barack Obama’s popular tome, “The Audacity of Hope.”

Economic news vs Atlas Shrugged sales

Furthermore, says The Economist, data from TitleZ.com show recent sales spikes of the book coinciding with major political events, such as the passing of the stimulus plan (see image).

The spikes, The Economist surmises, happen when people (including a handful of bloggers, politicians, and economists) notice the eerie similarities between real-life events — like the recent spate of sea pirate attacks — and the scenarios Rand described in her book.

Hmm… interesting! But there is more…

Have a look at the Google trends, we had a first spike in its search when New York Post talk about the rumor that  Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie may team up for ‘Atlas Shrugged’ movie. Even if novel’s sale is rising, it means there has been a rise in information about novel. But am curious to know, how much of it was by word of mouth and that too in context of philosophy and not the movie etc.

And wind up the post here is a surprise – Google trends reports that after US, it was people from India who searched the term most! Howzzat?

Note: I dont know about others but, yes, I myself am reading this very novel these days!

See related Freakonomics post and Carpe Diem post.

Jas Current Affairs Experiences

Obama has become a global symbol for hope and change (for good). And with depressed economy, unfaithful leaders in power, silent but resilient people looking for a change, its but natural for Indian political parties to exploit the “Change” plank of Obama and recycle it in Indian context. For every second mention of “Hope” and “Change” in political speeches, Obama’s name somehow is being shoved into the speech. Lets see how they are doing it.

Politics in Andhra Pradesh, India

Well am in this state right now and somehow it feels that this state’s parties are the one that have been bitten the most by the Obama bug. Congress party is in power and TDP is praying for anti-incumbency swing. A famous south Actor, Chiranjeevi, has seen an opportunity to launch his new party – Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) (while still being undecided about what really his agenda is). He is the one who situationally can use the Change plank the most and he duly tries it.

Obama campaigns for Chiranjeevi

Unknown to the word ‘copyright’, PRP has gone to use what we call as Associative Marketing. Few days back I saw this billboard. Written in local language it means:

“Today, in America it’s Obama”

“Tomorrow, in Andhra Pradesh it’s going to be Chiranjeevi”.

“The only thing people expect is “Change””.

-Praja Rajyam Party (PRP)

Whoa! That is funny! Lets see what happens when prez Obama has a look at this billboard. Am sure if he does, Chiranjeevi would suddenly realise how bad the Rs is faring vs US Dollar!

Immediately following Barack Obama’s historic win in the US, Chiranjeevi had announced that he will do in Andhra Pradesh, India what Obama did in the USA and win in the elections. Now how much he really knows about Obama’s campaign and actions is really going to be interesting and hard not to laught at, only if he would spill the beans of his heart!

Mr. Chandrababu Obama

The second party in waiting (for win), TDP, has already decided to follow the grass roots movement that Obama managed to setup in the USA. And a local newspaper, Eenadu, has given all the support with this (forged) photo graph on left. I mean…   leave it! Here is the link to Eenadu news article.

Both of these campaigns have acually nothing to do with Obama as a person or his ideals or even his startegy for win in elections. Its just another opportunity as seen by the opportunistic regional parties who have no idea what the cyber laws are or how they are making a joke of themselves in educated class. Worst, I dont think they will ever know!

Advani takes a clue from Obama

Coming to the national front, the largest Opposition party of India, BJP, has taken the mantra from Obama – use internet. For months now, the Post reports, a core group of political strategists, computer specialists and management graduates have been poring over Obama’s speeches and web site, his campus of change and, of course, the rhetoric of change, to nail down how Advani’s campaign can be run to inspire India’s untapped potential of young voters.The BJP seeks to project Advani as the harbinger of change who will replace this despair with hope.

‘About 100 million first-time voters will enter the election landscape next year. That is a staggering number of young people. And the Indian youth is impatient for change,’ Sudheendra Kulkarni, former journalist and one of Advani’s key strategists told the Post. ‘We want to project the image of Advani around the idea of change the same way that Obama’s message resonated with people’s hunger for change.’

LK Advani, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, has not only launched an official website in lkadvani.in targeted at pitching him as the prime minister for the upcoming elections but also launched a blog on the website in order to connect with the internet audience. He is also using aggressive Search engine marketing campaigns to promote the website. Even the ads are being targeted at causing a word of mouth effect as they are being placed at highly used sites like technorati.com. (My older blog itself had been filled with Advani ads!)

You think that very tech savvy? Hear this – Going the Obama way to reach out to millions of people, the BJP has launched Advani TV via IPTV technique to popularize Advani. In the US presidential polls, each and every step, right from Obama’s candidature acceptance speech to his victory speech was watched the world over through this technology.

Within all this mayhem, am really curious to see how these people react to the results once the elections are over!

Sources:

• http://hemanthology.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/obama-in-hyderabad/
• http://blogs.inspions.net/2008/11/15/obama-inspires-chandra-babu-too/
• http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1208950
  

Jas Current Affairs Experiences