An evening in the life of Thyagaraja

 

An evening in the life of Thyagaraja

                The greatness of Saint Thyagaraja was spreading far and wide in the Cauvery delta and the Tanjore court. A few musicians from the court decided to come to visit him. One of those was a visiting bard from Kerala. His name was Shadkala Govinda Marar. He was a unique singer and could render Jayadeva’s ashtapadhi in six geometric speeds.

                Thyagaraja welcomed them all into his dwelling and showed him his Pooja room and explained to them his devotion to Lord Rama.

                He then requested each musician to introduce themselves and sing a small song. So each musician from the court sang a song in their area of expertise be it pallavi or other forms of unique singing patronized by the Tanjore court.

                While introducing themselves, they all introduced themselves by their honorific and wealth bestowed by the court and their singing was more technical in its focus.

                Thyagaraja was bemused by the musicians and their ostentatious display of wealth, title and knowledge.

                After all the guests were introduced, it was time for the evening Arati. Thyaaraja then introduced himself by his guru lineage and then started singing the song, “Endharo Mahanu Bhavulu” in the Sri Ragam. He composed it on the fly in front of his guests.

                Although the song in its first stanza welcomed the honored guests, it then went on to describe the kind of guests that Thyagaraja desired. His true guests were the true devotees of Lord Rama. All the court musicians were stunned by this display of creativity and the subtle reminder to them that the craft of music was gifted by Shiva and Vishnu to Narada and Tumburu as a gift to humanity.

                The guests left eventually and Shadkala Govinda Marar came and took special leave and told him that he was leaving for Pandaripur to the shrine of Panduranga. Thyagaraja was moved and wished him well on his journey.

Sadhguru Thyagaraja Swamiki, Jai!!

An afternoon in the life of Thyagaraja

                It was a quiet afternoon in the house of Thyagaraja. The morning prayers, singing and lessons were over and after lunch, Thyagaraja as his won’t went to read the Holy Scriptures. He was reading the Bhagavatam of Krishna and was reading the part where Krishna was teaching a lesson to the Gopikas who had become vain and possessive of him. He wondered if he could write a dance drama for this episode and was lost deep in thought.

                Thyagaraja had a neighbor who was like a son to him. He had gotten recently married and had come to Thyagaraja to seek his blessings. Thyagaraja inquired of the girl’s father who was a famous Carnatic music exponent and was renowned for his pallavi’s. Thyagaraja was glad and requested the girl to bring her dad to meet him when he came over.

                The girl’s father had come over to visit her. He had had his lunch too and was sitting in the patio. He was hearing the students singing and practicing one of Thayagaraja’s kirthanas and was mocking them for not doing pallavi exposition. The daughter came out and talked to the dad and asked him whether he knew of Saint Thyagarja. The father got upset at this and started mocking Thyagaraja and telling him that he was not a great exponent of Carnatic music and was just a basic song composer and had no clue of the intricacies of Carnatic music. The daughter who was no slouch in music either and had come to admire the Saint realized that her father had not realized the greatness of Thyagaraja and was ignorant and arrogant and was regretting her father’s loud rant.

                The students who heard this went inside and called the bard and explained what was going on told him that the neighbor’s father who was a Carnatic music exponent and was criticizing and mocking his music and compositions. The saint smiled and said, “I am getting criticized. Really? If my favorite god and deity, Sri Ramachandra who lived a perfect life and Vasudeva (Krishna) who was the epitome of Dharma could be criticized, why not me? I think I have a song for this. O students, leave those bad thoughts and intentions and focus on Vasudeva who is Vishnu himself. We only accrue our karma so as we perform our dharma.”

                So he composed a song in the spot. “Chade Buddhi Manura”. This was in the raga athana. This is a hard raga to set songs to and he just composed it on the fly on a sleepy afternoon.

                The pallavi exponent who heard Thyagaraja heard the song was stunned by the deep meaning of the composition which basically synthesized Vedanta in six lines in a hard raga and in a tala that was not easy. He was moved and came to Thyagaraja and asked for his forgiveness and for his harsh reviews.

                Thyagaraja who was always calm and composed asked the pallavi exponent to join him in his evening prayers and sing a song in his prayer room of his favorite deity and a pallavi on Lord Rama. The pallavi exponent spent the rest of the day conversing with Thyagaraja and teaching his students.

                The Pallavi exponent then went to the court of Tanjore and told his fellow musicians about the amazing transforming experience. The rest of the musicians decided to then visit him one evening and planned on a visit.

Sadhguru Thyagaraja Swami ki, Jai.

Author’s note: This story was taken from a harikatha on the life of Thyagaraja.

Why we love Casablanca and Rick Blaine

(spoiler alert. read at you own peril)

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine", says American Rick Blaine (played by Humphrey Bogart) as he downs a scotch. He is of course speaking about his beautiful ex-girlfriend Ilsa (played by the beautiful Ingrid Bergman). Rick and Ilsa get separated during the chaos of the invasion of France by the advancing Nazis. Rick and Ilsa were dating and living together in Paris before the invasion.

Rick of course lands on both his feet in French occupied Casablanca operating a bar/nightclub. He is most probably a spy for the nascent CIA and has done interesting things including being a gun runner to rebels in Ethiopia and a mercenary for the loyalists in the Spanish civil war. He is dealing with the semi-loyal French police and has made enemies with the incoming German leadership who are still trying to get a handle on the place.

Rick is heart broken over Ilsa leaving him in Paris and then she comes to his bar in Casablanca with her husband Laszlo whom she found was alive during the invasion of Paris after thinking him for dead during the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. She had nursed Laszlo back to health

Rick is in possession of papers that will let two individuals escape Casablanca. Ilsa asks Rick to give one to her husband Laszlo so he can escape to the United States and resurrect the Czech resistance movement against the Nazis.

A cat and mouse game ensues for the papers for the two individuals who can escape to America.Is it Rick and Ilsa or just Laszlo as a parallel game emerges where Nazi agents are trying to arrest Laszlo.  Ilsa and the viewers are kept guessing until the last minute of the outcome of the confusing drama that ensues. Rick of course play his card close and at the end in an exciting finale and killing of the Nazi agent gives up both of the papers to Ilsa and Laszlo as they escape to America.

Ilsa is moved by Rick's nobel gesture and cannot express it because Laszlo is not aware of the relationship between Ilsa and Rick.

A scotch drinking cool guy with no commitments but is in madly in love with a woman and gives up an escape to freedom and embraces trouble with the Nazis to truly help the woman he loves.

A poignant love story and any woman who has been loved like Rick loved Ilsa is lucky indeed.

We all want to be Rick Blaine,the Noble savage. War, Romance, love, courage, coolness, drama and heroism, this movie had it all. And that is why Casablanca is one of the greatest movies of all time.

A morning in the life of Saint Thyagaraja

 

A morning in the life of Saint Thyagaraja

                It was a beautiful November morning in the year 1828 in Thiruvaiyaru in Tamilnadu. The Cauvery river was flowing that year as the monsoon had run its course. The crops would be a good bumper crop that year. It was just another day in the household of the man who was called the composer saint.

                He had woken up early as was his won’t and had done his morning prayers on the banks of the river Cauvery just like the Sage Agastya who had had done the same. He was excited for the day and had a spring in his step. His friend had gone to the punya kshetra’s and pilgrimage in the North of India and had brought him gifts. He was specifically excited about the Shaligram and Ganga water that his friend had got for him. It was a divine gift that he would take care and propitiate along with his favorite deity, Rama. His friend had invited him for lunch and said he would give the gifts. He had asked him to come around 11AM.

                Thyagaraja told his wife not to worry about lunch for him and said he would have lunch at his friend’s place. He headed to his friend’s place and called out to him. The friend’s wife was not a fan of Thyagraja. She thought that Thyagaraja could use his musical skills at the Tanjore court and make money and bring benefit to the people of the village. She was not too keen on serving him food and giving him the gifts that her husband had procured for Thyagaraja, even if it was not expensive and cost her nothing. There was an argument going on between the friend and his wife. The friend was not winning the argument and he came out sheepishly. Thyagaraja was a perceptive man. To give his friend a break, he mentioned to him that he could not come into his house and have lunch due to other circumstances and giving his friend an out and not embarrass him. The grateful friend agreed that they would meet another day.

                Thyagaraja went home and his wife was surprised that he had returned early. She asked him what the matter was. Thyagaraja smiled and called his students and said he was going to sing a song.

                He started singing the song, Entha Nerchina in the Raga Suddha Dhanyasi.

Pallavi

 enta nErcina enta jUcina
enta vAralaina kAnta dAsulE

Meaning: No matter how educated, well-traveled or well educated (like his friend), they are all devotees of their wives

Anu Pallavi

 santatambu SrI kAnta svAnta
siddhAntamaina mArga cinta lEni vAr(enta)

 

Meaning: Those who do not follow the Siddhanta Marga or Bhakti Marga of Sanatana Dharma and worship in their heart the one who is in the heart of Lakshmi (sic) Vishnu, is a devotee of the wives.

 

When he finished the Anu Pallavi, his wife stopped him in his tracks. She asked him how he could say Kanta Dasule when Rama got into trouble for listening to his wife. Wouldn’t that mean Rama was the kind of person who would listen to his wife too and ignore the divine path?

Thyagaraja was stunned. He knew his wife had asked him a good question. She was constantly asking him why Krishna and Rama had behaved differently in the avatars and he had spent many an evening explaining it to her.

Thyagaraja then thought about it for a couple of minutes and ended the song thus.

Caranam

para himsa para bhAm(A)nya dhana
para mAnav(A)pavAda
para jIvan(A)dulak(a)nRtamE
bhAshincEr(a)yya tyAgarAja nuta (enta)

He said, those who don’t behave like Rama i.e. people who bother others, covet others wealth, who speak ill of others and who create harm for others are the ones who are devotees of the wives. And Thyagraja praises the Lord (in this case, Rama).

The wife then smiled at him and said that was a good recovery. Thyagaraja grinned and he taught the song to his students in his informal gurukula.

Sadhguru Thyagaraja Swamiki, Jai!!

 Author's note: This was written based on hearing a hari katha on the life of Saint Thyagaraja.

 

 

Bethe, Fermi and Feynman and a simple math proof

 The Los Alamos Labs in New Mexico housed some of the greatest collections of human intellect on the planet ever in the history of the world. Hans Beth and Enrico Fermi were the superstars but Feynman  was not to be outdone. He had just graduated from Princeton with a Ph.D and had joined Hans Bethe team. He impressed everyone so much with his uncompromising approach to Physics and Math that Niels Bohr would come to him to brainstorm ideas and ask Feynman to find the flaw. He was the sounding board. Less known about Feynman than his famous diagrams were his numerical calculation abilities. Interestingly Hans Bethe was no slouch either in this area. They would have compute-offs and once the answer came down to calculating the difference between two consecutive squares. Hans Bethe answered it as an even number and Feynman jumped and said that it was not possible. Hans Bethe grinned and corrected himself to an odd number.  Both of them had quickly done the below proof in their heads in a flash. Hans Bethe then recruited Feynman to Cornell were he worked after the war. Feynman of course tired of living all his life in the North East, moved to Caltech.

Going back to the problem of why the difference between two consecutive squares cannot be an even number, it is one of the more simpler and elegant proofs in mathematics.

Consider a number n and a consecutive number n-1. (n)square - (n-1)square is (n) square - (n(square)-2n+1) whhc is n(square)-n(square)+2n-1 which is 2n-1. 2n is always even and 2n-1 will always be odd.

Or in other words, consider a number n+1 and a consecutive number n. (n+1)square -(n)square is ((n) square+2n+1)- n(square) which is 2n+1. 2n is always even and 2n+1 will always be odd.

Simple and elegant and Feynman and Bethe did this really fast in their heads.

Hitchens and Ayn Rand

Christopher Hitchens basically dissed Ayn Rand, her books and philosophy in this video and I transcribed this for posterity and posted it as well on the Youtube comment for this video.

"I am invited to be unpleasant at the expense of Ayn Rand and Objectivism. Well, that is easy. Well, the novels, I mean, first, I keep trying to say, in my view, that there is more morality in a novel by George Eliot than there is any of the four gospels, all the four of them put together. I care very much about literature, as a place where real ethical dilemmas are met and dealt with.

So to have novels as transcendentally awful as Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead, sort of undermines my project. And then, though, I have some respect for the Virtue of selfishness, a collection of essays, I have argued about them with the chairman of the Federal Reserve, as a matter of fact.

By the way, a state federal reserve bank, is not a part of the libertarian protract. Although Mr. Greenspan seems to be a bit iffy about this self-evident proposition.

I don't think there is any need to have essays advocating selfishness among human beings.

I don't know what your impression has been, but some things require no further reinforcement.

Having a book strenuously recommending that people be more self-centered seems to be as the Anglican Church used to say in its critique of Catholicism, a work of Supererogation, too strenuous."

#hitchslap

An Afternoon on the Concorde

An afternoon on the Concorde

Thursday, April 13^th, 2000           

“Welcome aboard Continental 1536 from San Francisco to New York JFK International Airport. This is your captain Charles Smith along with my colleague Mike Knowles. Our flight to the East Coast should be a smooth one. Air Traffic control and aircrafts ahead of us have let us know that our flight path is smooth and a beautiful day to fly across the country. Our flight path will take us over the Colorado Rockies, the Great Lakes region and onto eastern Pennsylvania before descending onto JFK international airport. Our flying time is currently planned at 5 hours and 53 minutes landing at approximately 7:30 PM EST, barring slowdowns by Air Traffic control, we anticipate an on-time arrival. We are currently fifth in line for take-off from Runway 1L/19R. As we take off, you will see the Golden Gate Bridge to the left of the aircraft and we will take a turn back again to the east. Cabin Crew, prepare the cabin for takeoff.”

I sat in the first class cabin relaxing for the long day and weekend ahead. I was working at Oracle for 5 years and was traveling almost every week for 4 years. I had accumulated a bunch of airlines miles on Continental and hotel miles on Marriott. One of the rewards from Marriott was a one way ticket to London on the Concorde and I had gotten the ticket to London from JFK for Friday, April 14^th, 2000 to spend a weekend in London and stay in the center of the city for the weekend before returning back to the United States on Monday, April 17^th back to work in Washington DC, where I was consulting.

The trip to the east coast/JFK airport took an extra half an hour due to air traffic congestion in the tri-state area since Thursday was the busiest travel day in the United States due to business travel. The cabin crew were awesome as always on the trip to the east coast. I made sure I kept hydrated and managed to relax and get some shuteye. The lunch and dinner was awesome as well and I landed at JFK.

I checked into the Ramada next to the airport so I could take a shuttle the next day to the airport.

Planning to fly on the Concorde

               

             I had noticed the Concorde travel benefit when looking up my Marriott benefits and decided I was going to accumulate the 200,000 points to get the one way trip on the Concorde from JFK to London. I had started traveling from July 1996 and had accumulated the points and I was all set for the trip. I got my visa to London at the embassy in DC. I was all set for the trip and I had to go to a meeting in Redwood Shores at the Oracle HQ that week. I had blocked my vacation and hence was able to leave Thursday. Oracle had chartered the Concorde to show case their new version of the Oracle Software version 6 which was a key milestone in the company’s success. All these plus the travel bug made it easy to make the case.

Friday, April 14^th, 2000

               

           I woke up early on Friday and go to the airport. The flight was scheduled to leave at 9AM EST and land in London at 5:30 PM GMT. Flying time was 3 hours and 20 minutes. The fastest time for JFK to LHR on the Concorde was 2 hours and 53 minutes set on 7^th of February, 1996. I reached check-in at 7:30 AM was ushered into the British Airways first class lounge. The thing about the Concorde is that there is no first class or coach class. The aircraft has 100 seats in a 4 seat per row with 2 per side with 25 rows making it a 100 seater plane. All seats are the same configuration and not as comfortable as a typical business class or first class seat on a traditional aircraft. The point of the Concorde was to get you across the Atlantic whether to Paris or London as quickly as possible. The aircraft has three members in the cockpit, the main pilot, the co-pilot and the flight engineer. The cabin crew can be up to 6 making a total of 109 people in the plane at max capacity.

               

           On this day, the Concorde had only about 50 passengers on the plane making it a light transatlantic flight. The cabin crew had 4 members and the flight capacity was at 57. British Airways boarded the plane and I was able to get a row to myself with a window seat. The person sitting in front of me on the aisle was fidgeting nervously and I said hi to a SriLankan businessman who was making the trip as well. We said hi and sat down for the journey.

               

           In the cabin in the front, there is a panel which shows the Mach Speed of the plane. I planned to keep an eye on it as we went through the flight.

            

           The captain finished all the procedures and began the pushback promptly at 9AM. Typical British punctuality or JFK’s efficiency was anybody’s guess for that day. It was a slightly overcast humid April day in New York. The plane was under the command of MiKe Bannister, who would fly the plane for the final transatlantic in a couple of years. The Concorde was a safe plane for the most part and had its own share of safety incidents and was most vulnerable during takeoff. The Concorde take off speed was 250mph or 400kmph. Most commercial aircraft would have a liftoff speeds between 150mph for the 737 and 180mph for the 747 depending on the weight of the plane, runway length and wind/weather conditions for the day.

On this day, JFK had ground to a halt on one of its runways due to a plane that had declared emergency and all planes were on hold in the tri-state area (JFK, LaGuardia and Newark) to allow this plane to land. By 9:30, the flight that had declared emergency had landed and the three airports got back to shepherding the planes in and out of these three airports. LaGuardia was primarily domestic with a short runway, Newark and JFK had longer runways to allow international aircraft which were heavier to land safely with extra runway lengths.

The Concorde measured nearly 204ft in length and stretched between 6 and 10 inches in flight due to heating of the airframe. It was painted in a specially developed white paint to accommodate these changes and to dissipate the heat generated by supersonic flight. A team of about 250 British Airways' engineers worked tirelessly, together with the relevant authorities, to ensure safety on board and Concorde was subjected to 5,000 hours of testing before it was first certified for passenger flight, making it the most tested aircraft ever. - Source, BA.com

The Concorde lined up in the departure sequence as is typical in US airports. JFK has 4 runways and this day, the Concorde was asked to line up on 13R-31L which was the standard runway for the Concorde at JFK. This would allow the Concorde to take off and go over Jamaica Bay with a 25 degree bank immediately limiting exposure to noise to the surrounding areas. The surrounding communities has sued and were overruled by the US Supreme Court 23 years ago when it was proved that the Concorde was not noisy as the Boeing-707’s. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey which administers these three airports had tested noise levels and found that the Concorde take off speed did not break the barrier of 112 db perceived noise levels and had come well below 105 db.

The cabin crew finished their safety procedures and Captain Mike Bannister voice came over the PA system. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard British Airways 4 on the Concorde from New York JFK to London Heathrow. Our flying time to London is 3 hours and 20 minutes at an altitude of 60,000 feet. Depending on London Air traffic, we may arrive a few minutes early but most likely on schedule. We have a fine cabin crew to serve you today on this short flight. Sit back, relax and enjoy the great service by our crew. We are 5^th in line for liftoff on runway 13R-31L. We will be taking off at 250 mph and slight left over Jamaica Bay and circle the George Washington Bridge before beginning our trans-Atlantic flight. Once over the Atlantic, we will break the sonic-barrier and try to get to slightly over 2 Mach for the majority of the flight until we reach London airspace. London Weather is partly cloudy and overcast with a temperature of 45 degrees Fahrenheit with a slight wind of 10mph. We should be under-way shortly. Cabin-crew, prepare for takeoff.”

After taxiing for a few minutes, the Concorde revved up its 4 Rolls-Royce engines and started increasing its ground speed to 250mph along runway 13R-31L. It lifted off at the speed of 250mph and banked slightly towards Jamaica Bay and then further higher and over the George Washington Bridge and then turned east again towards the trans-Atlantic route to London. I was looking over the Windows and once we went higher above the GW Bridge, the cloud cover kicked in and the magical skyline of New York City disappeared from view. The panel on the front of the plane was still less than 1 mach. Once we got over the Atlantic, the engines would rev up faster and break the sound barrier. Of course, ensconced in the cabin of the Concorde, we would not know the breaking of the sound barrier. The flight continued on its 3451 ground miles or 3000 nautical miles towards London. I5 minutes into the journey, the panel on the front read 1.01 mach and slowly inched upwards towards the final cruising speed of 2.05 mach and peak altitude of 60,000 feet. It is said that on a clear day, it was possible to see the curvature of the earth. But the sky was overcast and hence no luck for that day.

The cabin crew began its service and served us drinks and a light lunch as the plane sped towards London. As the plane reached Nothern Ireland, the plane started slowing down to less than 2 mach as it got towards British airspace. The cabin crew came one more time to serve a light snack and beverages

Captain Mike Banister came over the PA system and announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Captain Mike Bannister from the flight deck. We are 15 away minutes from London Heathrow and we plan to land at 6PM GMT. To be courteous to other planes and for Air Traffic control, we are going to slow down the Concorde to sub-sonic levels and begin our initial descent into London Heathrow. Thanks for flying with us today and have a nice stay at London. Cabin Crew, prepare the plane for landing.”

The usual bustle of activities for preparing the cabin for landing started and the Concorde made its final approach into JFK. The wheels of the Concorde rolled down smoothly and the plan slowed down to 187 mph for its final sequence.

The Concorde landed in LHR and we dis-embarked and I was met by the pilot who wished us all a good time in London. I got out of the aircraft, picked up my bag and went towards customs and immigration to my hotel in Central London.