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Quid Pro Quo With The Gods

Discussion in 'Cheeniya's Senile Ramblings' started by Cheeniya, May 20, 2017.

  1. Iravati

    Iravati Platinum IL'ite

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    On Obituaries

    Cheerful obituaries may not be the societal norm but look at the morgues; they are not that bleak but for a rotting cadaver. If you had noticed in crime-fighting series, of course, in the West as I don't know the counterpart in Sanskrit in Indian morgues, you would find a plaque with the Latin inscription "Hic locus est ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae" which roughly translates to "This is the place where death delights in helping life". That is uplifting even for a corpse. The dead bodies being used as study material in research and training of pathologists. When I first observed that writing, I was curious, and then puzzled, and then I was deeply moved by the notion of death in medical fraternity.
     
  2. Iravati

    Iravati Platinum IL'ite

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    On Donkeys

    After your mention of Shitala, I spent some time yesterday searching for incursion of donkeys in Indian mythology. Surprisingly, there is so little intel on the mounts of Indian gods. There is hardly a legitimate resource on the Net to learn about the origin myths of the animal compadres. Notwithstanding, I read some more about Shitala and Katyayani and Kaalratri and other incarnations of Parvathi as Durga and found out so many new things in each incremental avatar. Also, on the Net there are varying accounts of the showdown between Shitala and Jwarasur. With conflicting accounts, it is impossible to sift the bonafide narrative of these local deities. I like Shitala. She is a hands on deity with her accessories.

    Have you noticed that only our Indian gods have mounts and persistent avatars? I mean the other Olympian Gods have no vehicles to descend from their abodes. How do they descend from Mt Olympus, do they rappel?
     
  3. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @Iravati
    Of course you ought to be knowing that West Side Story was an adoption of Romeo and Juliet. Whereas the Bard made it an absolute tear jerker, West Side Story is fun almost till the end. Natalie Wood was a sensation as Maria and her singing voice was Margaret Nixon who sang the hits in My Fair Lady. George Chakiris acted as Maria's brother. You should see him in 633 Squadron. Oh! Those great movies!
     
  4. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    On obituaries.
    A well known silk merchant of Chennai who is a good friend of mine lives with another woman who he calls his second wife. When the first wife died, he inserted a quarter page obituary note in The Hindu which brought tears in all the eyes which read it. When I mentioned to him at a subsequent meeting, he gave me his typical one-eyed wink! My grandson is a medico now doing his advanced medicine in London. He once told me that his stomach turned when he first witnessed a dead body being opened up for study.
     
  5. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    On donkeys
    After we started discussing the donkey as the Mount of Gods, I started looking at others. The heaviest god Ganesha rides a tiny mouse. His brother Lord Subramanya who is challenged to go round the world at the shortest possible time mounts a Peacock to do it! And their father's Mount Nandhi is never seen on his feet anywhere. He is always resting! I then understood that there must be greater significance in what we see. I have taken it up as a project to unravel this mystery.
     
  6. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    On television (270)
    I give below a brief description of a crystal set from Google:
    [​IMG]

    Pictorial diagram from 1922 showing the circuit of a crystal radio. This common circuit did not use a tuning capacitor, but used the capacitance of the antenna to form the tuned circuit with the coil. The detector might have been a piece of galena with a whisker wire in contact with it on a part of the crystal, making a diode contact. Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead.
    Oh, you weaned off from TV, did you? I am cutting short this response as my favourite programme is going on the TV!
     
  7. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    On music and romance (269)
    Soft music has always been my favourite. I love Ghazals in particular and my favourite is Gulam Ali. But the main interest from my younger days till now are soft instrumentals of all genres of music. Paul Mauriat and James Last are my greatest favourites. I spend the best part of my leisure time listening to their classics. In Carnatic music, I adore Lalgudi Jayaraman and in Hindustani music, Shivkumar Sharma's Santoor is my greatest favourite. Apart from its lilting sound, Santoor has a mesmerising action too.
    Hear my favourite Paul Mauriat number here:
     
  8. Iravati

    Iravati Platinum IL'ite

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    Lewis Carroll made a living out of his nonsensical writing. A friend once advised me not to fret whether my life was useful, purposeful and meaningful and all that. As long as it is not dull, I should not ask for more. This nonsensical rambling exactly imparts that in life. Nonsensical writing is anything but never dull. What more can I ask for ...
     
  9. Iravati

    Iravati Platinum IL'ite

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    On Hair

    Oliver Sacks lead a life of hardships but he was able to find fulfilment in his work and eventually found companionship. I like such happy-eventually-after tales.

    Coming to hair, let me tell you something. In one of my previous companies, there a bald chap. Funny and witty and lively! He was a veteran in the company and joined straight after he graduated from college. Soon after, age took its toll, and he lost his hair. But his picture on the id card was never updated. At times, when he flicked the card at the security guard, he was denied entry. He had to call up someone in the firm to confirm his identity. But he refused to update his id card with recent image. He wanted atleast his picture on the card to have hair if not his head. Tell me, what do you think? Should corporates have stringent rules to reflect the physicality or overlook such innocent conceits?
     
  10. Iravati

    Iravati Platinum IL'ite

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    On donkeys

    Don Quixote had Sancho Panza. Sherlock had Watson. Lord Loam had Crichton. Are you looking for any assistant in this enterprise? You know, I am free. I like investigations. I also like Indiana Jones-styled capers. If there is any job opening for me in your project, let me know. Together we will round up the folklore of mounts in Indian mythology. Given that this research is yet untapped, we might be the pioneers to have heralded this hitherto unexplored segment in Indian mythologies. Nandhi beats me! There are not many statues with Lord Shiva riding on Nandi. I think the mouse of Ganesha has a tale. I cannot recollect. My mom used to read that booklet for every Vinakaya Chaturthi which contained tales of mouse and moon. I used to drool at the prasad eagerly waiting for the puja to end and never paid any attention to those chants and stories. That explains why my Indian mythology is patchy. Had I concentrated on divinity rather than delicious sweets, I would have known a thing or two about our Gods and their skittish mounts too.
     

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