Everyday Geeta

May 24, 2013 I came across a very interesting interview with Khaled Hosseini , published in the Economic Times. Q. In your new book, And the Mountains Echoed, one of the main characters is an Afghan-born physician in America, like you. He is embarrassed that he's sweating the details of his new home theatre while his countrymen are suffering. Do you have similar guilt? A. Of course. I always have. The only reason I'm not where they are is just pure luck; it's just a stupid genetic lottery. It's an unmerited gift to have this life. My books became successful way beyond any reasonable expectation and were about those people on the streets. I felt that in some way I had profited from their wretchedness. Q. Do you imagine it would have been published if September 11 had not happened? A. Who knows? You have to be honest. It opened doors. But believe it or not, as I was trying to find an agent in June 2002, I received a rejection that said, "We like your book, but we...

May 15, 2013 Rush now to read the wonderful report on the greater wax moth in the Independent. If your jaw doesn't drop reading this, you have become too jaded. Researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow have just discovered that the insect, which is found across the UK, is capable of hearing sound frequencies of up to 300,000 hertz (300kHz) – more than 100 times higher than the whiniest human voice and fifteen times the maximum frequency that can be heard by the sharpest-eared teenagers. This wonderful article also tosses several glorious tidbits of information for further exploration such as the "The jewel beetle Using an infra-red sensor under one of its legs, it can detect a fire more than 50 miles away." Click on the link , for more on the "break for glory" posts. Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

May 13, 2013 At the recent Naada Bindu Festival of Arts conducted by Chinmaya Naada Bindu at Kolwan (near Pune in Maharashtra) I was fortunate to hear "pasaayadaana" as the concluding prayer sung by Shri Damleji. The words (what little I understood of the old Marathi) and the haunting tune stayed in my mind. I remembered it today and decided that I would use this as the trigger for restarting my blog which has been in somewhat of a hiatus. While I don't have the recording by Shri Damle-ji, I did find the same haunting music sung by the inimitable Lata Mangeshkar with music by Shri Hridaynath Mangeshkar. The composition is by the incomparable Sant Jňāneśvara ,the author of the Jňāneśvari, a Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad Geeta. This is a prayer by the author at the end of the Geeta, a blessing on all concluding with a specific blessing on those who cherish the Geeta as their life ( ग्रंथोपजीविये - granthopajiiviye). Yes, it is in Marathi but in this age of infinite ...