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Showing posts from 2014

Revisiting Raag Kapi Through A Song In Ulidavaru Kandanthe

Kanna muchhe madila aache Daati hode belakannu Hari hoda adentha baanu Kaanadenu hetta hennu Onagide kai beralu Kai tuttanu nee mareyalu Naa deeti hode Naa haariro ee bhanu... Amma... Ee jeeva ninthide, usirata sagide Karanava naa ninage hege helale.. .. ? Keladene seridenu Kempugiro ee mugilanu Hari hoda adenta banu Kanadenu hetta hennu Beleda maravondu, tanna beranna Taane kaana bayaside Mugila kaanuva hakkiya mariyondu Thayiya goodanu araside Putta hejje sulivu, nee kandare ulivu Matte garbhake, hogo bedike Prasava vedane irada januma enage Hudukide hetta kangalu Swara seralu, mana mugilu Naa jinugi bande Thayiya appuge beleda maravagi Ninthalle thale baagi, ee bhoomi meeti Swargavanne matte chiguriside Hakkige banagi haralu varavagi Madilalle agasa thorithu Ninna mamatheya varavagi Serida ee hottige Kai beralina aa tuttige Aa devarige sharanu The lyric is a beautiful poem, taking you to

Tree Of Passion

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Winning was never easy. It takes passion, enthusiasm, hope, perseverance and consistency, in order. This blog is neither out of my experience nor out of an encounter with a winner. Observation has made me say those words. Scrutinize the lives and times of a few great souls whose triumph has flabbergasted the world over. You will find that there were barely any who were born with the silver spoon in their mouths. But do not strike their names out, because, money and luxuries do catch fire and all that burns to black. Money can die out while you are alive. Money can never impact upon one's chances of success in life. Passion can. It dies with you. Yes. You are richer with passion in your mind than with money in your pocket. When you nurse the saplings of Interest with time and mind, it grows into the tree of Passion. Practically, any healthy seed, with life inside it, has the potential to grow into a tree and branch out. So, it becomes crucial to ultra-carefully assort the se

Finding The God Through Religion

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May your religion help you find God Enshrined in the institution of humanity is the freedom to acquire the faith one finds solace in, and to believe in the God one finds comfort in. That being asserted, it becomes logically appealing that faith and religion can never be forcefully imposed on an individual. Advocating freedom of religion on grounds of spiritual satisfaction on one hand and coercing an individual to abandon his or her faith and acquire a new one on the other hand, is as absurd as it can ever get. The hypocrisy darkens even more when the secret goals are on the political, financial, geographical and rebellious fronts. With the realization that an agenda-driven instinct has started to catapult an unjustifiable act of forced conversion, comes a question for contemporary human race - Are we killed by religion? We have all been hearing those well placed, short words that say 'God is one, religions many' and 'Many roads to the same destination', sin

The Ground Where Everybody Wins

Jay was now a changed man, or so he assumed. The workshop on leadership skills training had began to cast its effect on his personality. He could now sense within himself, a feeling of renewed vigor and enthusiasm to work on a new research project. He always knew that he was a highly reliable team worker. The interest he nurtured in research could now help him redistribute his passion in taking the less-traveled roads, backed with the realization that when the techniques are familiar, one must venture into new areas. For the same reason, his project head sensed that with better team leader skills, Jay would certainly strike gold. Jay, however, felt that his thirst for confidence in taking head on, the new challenge of leading a research team, was far from being quenched. He lived in constant fear that, if he could not prevent the misunderstandings that inadvertently creep in among his colleagues from gaining more frequency, they would take things to the next level of professional ven

Kindle the Prayer by Tajdar Junaid

Kindle the Prayer by Tajdar Junaid

You Know Its You

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You love music and I love to sing My heart beats like a bell would ring I pen my lyric to blend in your tune And send my melody to the full moon I love colors and you love to paint On canvas, your vibrance unchained Your smile is orchids in full blossom You are totally awesome, from top to bottom You have patience and I love to talk No wonder you're my friend in life's every walk You are the feeling for my mind always crooned You shine in my darkness like the full moon I love fun and you love to laugh You are the spikes in my electrocardiograph Your scent lingers in the air I inspire You are the warmth of the air I expire You are the 'L' in my life and love You keep me alive and I never know how Would I survive without you by my side With you, everyday's a jolly ride.

Phoolon Ke Rang Se - Anirudh Cover by Aniruddh Krishna

Phoolon Ke Rang Se - Anirudh Cover by Aniruddh Krishna

Isolated By Own Family, Cared By Old Friend

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Friends sometimes prove more helpful than family First, he stepped inside my clinic with his footwear on. I watched his feet fumbling from under the curtain at the doorway. He again stepped down and dropped his dusty foam slippers at the corner. His steps were short and rapid and his hands were held straight down from the torso. Upon entering my cabin, he stood to the left corner of my table and, after vigorous searching inside his shirt pocket, took out a green-colored strip of tablets. This was the third time I advised him that the tablet had to be taken in the morning before breakfast. Seemingly satisfied, he nodded and put the strip back into his pocket, and stood there confused. I asked him if anything was wrong. He dragged the chair towards him and sat erect. He confirmed it one more time that the tablet I had given him was for the discomfort he feels inside his stomach when he empties his bowels in the morning. I reassured him that the tablet would help him with the probl

Sleepless Under The Ceiling Fan

I have made friends. A lot of them. I get to learn important morals from many of them. There are situations when I fail to catch the cliché or regard the importance of parts of the conversation I have with them. But certainly at the end of the day, their words reverberate in my hippocampus. Couple of days back, I enquired with my colleague the reason for his recent onset of low mood. He replied that one cannot expect the other person to stay in the best mood on all days. That day, he was blue for some unfigured reason. The day was one of low esteem and enthusiasm for me too. For time being, I did not attach any importance to his reply to my question. The same night, I remained awake wondering why could not I enliven my mood and stay cheerful. I could not elicit any reason for my dull and unenthusiastic day. Staring into the revolving blades of the ceiling fan, I could perceive his words echoing within my mind - One cannot expect the other person to stay in his best mood on all days.

For The Love Of Horror Movies

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I have been watching too many horror movies lately. I always found these movies interesting and, even as a kid, I never skipped a single horror movie made in Malayalam. Gradually, I moved on to the horror movie factory in Bollywood. It took just a couple of Hindi horror flicks for me to realize that if you really want to savour the supernatural or paranormal flavour in horror movies, you must venture into the Hollywood. It all started with the Paranormal Activity series, where scenes are shot in the tranquility of daylight and the horror is less bloody and more gory. With The Conjuring, I could clarify my proposition that less the graphics, more the horror. Also, the scenes make one realize that the best horror movies never require a high budget. Till date, I have never really understood the psychology behind my interest in horror movies. I watched Quarantine today. Though not a supernatural horror, the movie certainly gave me my little dose of shock and terror.

The Little Things In Our Lives

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Life is not about the final destination or the ultimate aim. Many of us keep asking one or more of these questions: Why am I born? What is the purpose of this whole life that I'm living? Where am I traveling to? What makes me? Real happiness is only when you step out from inside your ego homes When Arthur Conan Doyle said it has always been the little things that make the most of life, it certainly has to be it. You don't have the count of all the vital little stuff that you have been missing when you run the long road to fulfillment of your ambition. It is crucial time now to sit back, take a deep breath and ponder: What were the tiny little crevices you missed, that could lead you to paradise? The scenario is one of a bunch of messed up mortals locked inside a dungeon, sheepishly grinning at each others woebegone faces, for being ignorant of the narrow fissures on the walls that would open out into freedom. The issue is that all of us are so much more absorbed

Dr. Mahendra - The Guiding Light

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Community medicine. There is always this question that I keep asking myself - "Am I into this by chance or choice?". When I ponder over finding an answer to this question, I cannot get out of utter confusion, as I always stood a chance of securing a seat in other, apparently popular specialties, had I only waited for another year to give exams. When it was not by chance, was it out of choice? I really do not know. This was my second state conference of the Karnataka Association of Community Health (KACH) at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Belgaum, first being the Silver Jubilee Conference at Bangalore Medical College. It was a priceless moment to witness my community medicine teacher at under-graduate college, Dr. B. J. Mahendra being awarded by KACH for excellence in the field of public health. It is difficult to describe that moment when I was sitting in the auditorium as a delegate and my professor from Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences, where I completed my bache

Add Life To Years

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Melting clock: Live life beyond time It just takes few seconds to get to the finishing line; few minutes to call it a day at work and recline; Few hours to meet that special someone; few days to get your salary for the long weekend's fun; Few months to get your valuable educational degree; Few years for the prisoner to be set free. Less than a second is all it takes for the heartbeat that keeps you alive Few seconds is all it takes to breathe in oxygen and survive. Decisions are made in no longer than a second Accidents do kill, when no harm you would intend Seconds spent in sorrow are always too long Only time can filter the right from wrong Stay calm and never lose your facial charm Forgive, for revenge is always double the harm A second for the baby to get ex-utero And precious years of learning to talk and draw And a little more years to eat, play and grow Life's, then on, a short one-man show So liv

Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaye - Anirudh Cover by Aniruddh Krishna

Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaye - Anirudh Cover by Aniruddh Krishna Click on the link above to listen to my cover of the famous evergreen melody Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaye sing on Soundcloud.

The Jeep Safari to Kodachadri Hills

The road to Kodachadri peak is a highly treacherous one. Located in the Western Ghats, the hills are a must-see for the adventure lovers. The temples of Goddess Sharada (Saraswati), Adi Shankara's place of penance, origin of the River Souparnika and the steep hilly terrain together make a unique blend of spirituality and adventure. The cloud-wrapped mountain generates a feeling of fluffy cumulonimbus embrace. Clear water gently flows down the crevices. More pictures of the beautiful landscape are lined up for my next blog, as some of them need slight brightness and contrast adjustments. The video uploaded with this post shows the extremely rugged terrain being rode on to get atop the Kodachadri hill. The drivers are masters of real daredevilry to negotiate their jeeps up the rocky raw roads. The jerks and humps can shake your bones out of their joints.

50 Years Of Nutritional Programs And What Have We Achieved?

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                       Hunger is one of the earliest reflexes to develop in a foetus. Tracing human history down the lines of evolution, it can be said with good certainty that it was food, and not fire, which was the first human discovery. Hunger has migrated populations. Great wars have been fought in the name of alleviating hunger. Even to this day, food continues being the omnipotent force that can shake the strongest of the governments. Hunger is ever-perpetuating. Indian concepts on food and nutrition is deep-rooted in the Vedic texts on Ayurveda, the science of life. The Indian tradition of food is closely linked with spiritual well-being. This concept of a merger of the physical dimension with the spiritual or the fourth dimension of health is relatively new to the Western world, where nutrition, till the beginning of the nineteenth century, was perceived as merely fuelling the physical dimension. Government’s initiative to ensure the nutrition of people have emerged out

Take Me To Prosperland

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Take me to the land where cuckoo's melody drifts in the gentle gale Where banyan boughs quiver their leaves through lazy wind trail I would hum a tune and bring dead emotions back to life Lingers where the fragrance of rain pampering brittle soil. Where breeze would gift me a melody from the bamboo flute, Where clouds, like the kids, dance, innocent and cute; Air of celebration around would sink my heart in; A place to detach from the material world and take the heart's route. Take me to the land where music is lived and relished; Where hopes are sown and dreams are cherished, Where harmony consoles a million tormented souls, Where revenges are forgotten and hatreds have perished. I wish to live a day of my life in Prosperland, Where orchids blend their shades into spring's garland, Where people are free from the clutches of suffering and desire, Where the limps can run and the paralyzed can stand. I know for sure the journey is long and paths uncle

Onam - The Festival of Flowers, Feasting and Fun

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Yet another Onam. And it brings with it all the merry and prosperity. That time of the year when King Mahabali visits his kingdom on earth. People of his city, believed to be in the perfection of administration and justice under the reign of Bali, the benevolent king, welcome the king to their houses elegantly. Earthen figurine of the king is placed with reverence on the centre of a floral pattern. It is said that the heart and soul of Onam lies in the beauty of the floral pattern, and that every blossoming flower longs to attain salvation by filling a gap anywhere in the patterns drawn on the day of Thiruvonam. Thiruvonam or Shravana is the 22nd star in the zodiac. It is a constellation of Alpha Aquila, Beta Aquila and Gamma Aquila stars, Alpha being the brightest. These three stars are believed to have originated from three footsteps of Vamana, the fifth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. King Bali had promised to offer three footsteps of land that the young Brahmin scholar demanded for.

Respect Your Teachers

Let us not be divided by any religious sentiment. It is a well-established fact that spiritual thinking is the hallmark of a civilized society. This fact is reflected in understanding that answers to questions on self and reasons for existence lies in spirituality. A vibrant shade among the several reflections of the spiritual thought process is devotion towards the teacher. Scriptures have a grading of the attitude one displays. It says that attention comes first, develops into surprise, surprise grows into attraction, attraction blossoms into love, love matures into respect and respect immortalizes in devotion. If our lives could be imagined as a transcendental sojourn through the dark black emptiness of the eternal universe, its our teachers who take the role of the guiding stars. It is the teacher who becomes our first inspiration. Our success stories of today are also the stories of several selfless sacrifices of many a noble men and women who strived to bring out the good in

Sometimes, Rules Can Set Everything Right - The Biometry Blues

The day was 18th July 2014. I remember the date precisely, as it was me who got the letter from our HOD signed and sealed at the college office. A copy of the letter was also forwarded to the director of our institution. After all, it is the director who takes the final call for implementing or discontinuing any administrative move. The letter was the hard copy of an idea from the head of our department, Department of Community Medicine. He says he traced the origin of this idea to the days of his erstwhile service as the in-charge director of Shimoga Institute of Medical Sciences. The idea sprung from thinking about a corrective action for ensuring punctuality in the staff, both teaching and non-teaching, following a report in an allegedly-local newspaper about allegedly-irregular allegedly-staff who allegedly do not report at the allegedly prescribed duty timings. The idea was to introduce biometry attendance for the post-graduate students. For the post-graduate population of our

The Worm Payasam

A doctor's son was relishing the tasty vermicelli payasam his mom had cooked. He asked his dad: "Dad, why do they call this Vermicelli?" Dad replied: "Son, Vermicelli is derived from the Greek word for worms. Look into your plate. Doesn't it look like worms boiled in milk?" Son miserably nodded. Dad continued: "Son, the payasam you are eating gets converted into stools inside your intestines. There is a worm-like organ inside your stomach called the Vermiform appendix. When vermiform appendix gets infected and filled with foul-smelling pus, we remove it surgically." Mom, hearing the conversation, spilled her plate of vermicelli payasam into the garbage bin.

Raag Kapi

If I had to handpick the best ones among all the elegantly melodious songs in Malayalam films, I will never miss these three songs. 1. Kanneer poovinte kavilil thalodi - from Kireedom 2. Aaro viral meetti - from Pranayavarnangal 3. Anuraaga vilochananayi - from Neelathamara Humming the tunes of these songs can immediately help you realize that these songs share the same Raag. Yes. They are all set in Raag Kapi. Kapi is a beautiful Carnatic Raag that evokes the feelings of separation pangs (many songs expressing Radha's grief are in this Raag), devotion, and pathos. The famous composer Papanasam Sivan has composed Enna Thavam Seithanai Yashoda in this Raag. Rahman's famous song Vennilave vennilave vinnaithaandi varuvaaya from Kadhalan is also in Raag Kapi. This Raag does not have an exact Hindustani counterpart. However, Raag Pilu shares some similarity with Kapi.

Healthy Living - The Ayurvedic Way

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I would never disagree to the statement that the Ayurvedic system of medicine does not have emergency medicines. I'm a practitioner of public health in the allopathic stream and my knowledge on Ayurvedic practices is practically null. But I can make a claim with a good degree of certainty, that Ayurveda is essentially pristine preventive medicine. The concepts of wind ( vatha ), bile ( pittha ) and mucus ( kapha ) are theories of intangible occult to many. In this age of molecular chemotherapy with cellular organelles as targets, one would take no second thought in throwing the millenia-old conceptions into the trash bin. Ayurveda has its roots in spirituality. It is probably the only system of medicine that stressed enormously on the fourth dimension of health - the spiritual dimension. We are all spiritual. Individuals vary in the degrees of exhibiting their spiritual desires. It is said that atheists do dream. Dream is a state of the mind that links it with the soul in the r