Jas Blog

A month’s ordeal and here am back with my blogs. My both blogs had been down thanks to a virus which infected the server and left me perplexed as I tried few options from my understanding, which only worsened the situation. That was the reason some of you would have noticed a 404 error on one of my blog.

For WP Geeks: Where all complex ways of copying database, creating new installation, dropping tables from new database and inserting old tables in it left me with a scratched down versions of my blogs but still with issues, a simple reinstall on same location and updation of wp-config file made the day (night infact, its 1:02AM right now!) for me.

Well, all is well that ends well. So I will look forward to be in touch with you again through this channel.

Aloha!

~Jas

Jas Uncategorized Blog Maintenance, Life

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

I have been seeing this particular YouTube link from Vaneet, a close friend of mine, as his status message and GTalk pings kept throwing this URL at me. Coming from a person who is really passionate about the dreams and pursuit of them, I should have guessed it.

The video is of Susan Boyle singing ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ song from Les Miserables,  the longest-running West End musical in history. Based on a french novel by same name, this musical, set in early 19th-century France, follows the intertwining stories of a cast of characters as they struggle for redemption and revolution.

The video has become a rage it seems on YouTube, because the lady who comes to sing it gives a background about herself first to public in the famous ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ show. Picture this, an old English lady from a village down Brighton (it is more rural than any other place near London), 47 years old as per her claim, comes on stage and is sneered at contemptuously by two of the three judges and many among crowd. But the moment she starts singing, the very first few words evoke a strong turbulence in the very folks. Singing at the age of 47, these lyrics do grab a lot more gravity (check the lyrics at the end of the post).

I have already put in almost four years of my life in work and almost all of rest in studies, and dreams have been the oxygen for me. But lately I have started having other thoughts, of leaving the control to the Almighty and take retirement from dreaming. Somehow it seems the more you try to control the things, the more awful you feel when things just do not move in positive direction. So the lyrics left a very intense impact on me, leaving me hold a Requiem for the Dreams I dreamed of changing the world as per my wishes!

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high,
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid
When dreams were made and used,
And wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung,
No wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
As they turn your dreams to shame.

But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms
We cannot weather…

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seems
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.

Youtube link for the old village lady who has taken the Web2.0 by storm!

Jas People Life