1/28/08 ELECTIONS AHOY ! Vengrai Parthasarathy What are Elections for ? Are they just for harangues by politicians, false promises and impossible loyalties, raucous music on loudspeakers and posters and banners? Elections should be more than that. Is the Indian voter going to think for himself, evaluate the candidates and judge their merits and elect…
All posts in July 2016
LOST AND FOUND
LOST AND FOUND Vengrai Parthasarathy The elderly, tufted gentleman next to me in the bus to Triplicane had his eyes closed and seemed to be either snoozing or in deep meditation. After a while, he opened his eyes turned and I was the first person to meet his eye. “Thank you”, he said. I was…
Venom Trail
TRAIL OF A SNAKE Vengrai Parthasarathy Seven-year old Pappu came running excitedly and made a cryptic announcement to his father: “There is a snake in the garage”. Pappu was an imaginative boy. He had once seen an alien with horns getting out of a space ship outside their back yard. He had also seen a…
HELLO, HIGH-FIVE AND HALLELUJHA
7/4/14 Hello, High-five and Hallelujah! Vengrai Parthasarathy Life is one long saga of meet, greet and eat. The greet part, to show fellow feeling, has undergone a good deal of dramatic changes. In India, we say Namaste or Namaskar and if you are from the south , you add an ‘am’ to it and make…
One-by-Two
Cup that Cheers….(In a lighter vein) By Vengrai Parthasarathy Tea is not the only drink that cheers. The wafting aroma of coffee, as you loll in the bed in the wee hours of the morning, is a wake-up call. It sets the blood flowing and prepares even a grouch to face the world—cheerfully. ”Coffee is…
VAISHNAVA JANATO–English
Harihi Aum! Sreer Asthu! ‘VAIṣṇAVA, JANATO’–by Narsing Mehta Translation by Vengrai (This song in Gujarathi language was composed by Narsingh Mehta, a 15th century poet. A favourite of Mahathma Gandhi, it was sung at all his prayer meetings) To be a True Vaishnava is to be a Friend of all Creatures and Belong to God.…
Literary Oddities
A LITERARY ODDITIES Proper words in proper places’ was how Jonathan Swift defined style’ in literature. That is something not hard to find. There are countless illustrations if one only looks out for them in classics by master-writers. On the other hand, some hold the opinion that it should suffice, if, depending on the effect…
Iyengar Lingo
Aiyengar/Iyengar Lingo The “Iyengar Lingo or paribhashai” for food is different from others . Samayal is “Thaligai to Iyengars.”. In general, the term “Amudhu” (Amirtham or Nectar) is added after all basic dishes. Iyengars add “Tiru” (meaning auspicious or sacred), to all words and payasam is said as Tiru kannan amudhu. sathaumudhu, karamudhu and kannamudhu.…
Tagore’s “Where the Mind is without Fear”
Tagore’s Poem–& Annotation (on the vocabulary words and major themes). by Vengrai Parthasarathy I –Where The Mind Is Without Fear–By Rabindranath Tagore Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls Where words come…
Twelve Divine Names
TWELVE HALLOWED NAMES OF THE LORD Vengrai Parthasarathy (The Dwādashnāma Panjara -a stotra in Sanskrit is often recited as a corollary to the Vishnu Sahasra Nāma Stotra . Citing the twelve names of Sri NarayaNa, the devotee prays for the Lord’s protection from all directions of the compass and to be ensconced, as it were,…