Nina Burmi sings Thumri | Vocal & Tabla | Indian Classical Music

The way she sings is too good. I am hooked to this song for the past week.

Birla planetarium and temple in Hyderabad

Yesterday we decided to visit Birla Temple. It has been on our to-do list for quite some time. The initial plan was to leave at around 5 from Gachibowli, arrive temple at 6 and then visit ISKON temple after a couple of hours and return after 9 PM as both places close then. Of course, I didn't consider traffic and long queues :-)

After much cajoling from my wife, I decided to let go of my afternoon siesta and left at around 4:20 PM. The drive is cutting through the city and thus was somehow crowded. At one place we saw a burning bullet (motorcycle) on the mid road. It was properly parked and was burning like hell. Many people were taking selfies and pictures. I was scared that it may burst, so I sped along.

Anyways after a missed turn and taking help from several pedestrians (In India Google Maps will only help you up to some extent), I was able to reach Birla temple area. Mind you it is on a hilltop and being a weekend it was very crowded. Luckily Birla center has a decent parking space.

The place where I had parked was Birla Planetarium and museum. The planetarium has fixed show timings. And shows are in various languages. Next available show was at 6 PM, but it was full. Then at 6:30 it was in the Telugu language, which I am yet to learn. So I took tickets for 7:45 PM show.

Open space in front of museum

Planetarium

Then we went to see the museum. Fortunately, photography and videography are strictly banned here. So everyone is looking at scientific artifacts. There is a special section called Dinosarium where they have a fully constructed fossil of Dinosaur excavated in Adilabad Andhra Pradesh. It also has a fossilized egg from Gujarat. Totally worth the visit. The lower level of museums has a model of the submerged city of Dwarka and many scientific artifacts.

By the time we were done from museum, it was 7 PM. Initially, we thought to visit the temple and then be back by 7:30 in time to see planetarium. But better sense prevailed and we finally settled for seeing planetarium.
This was our first visit. It is a domed structure in which the audience is sitting in a reclining position and projection is done on the dome above. The show is about traveling through the solar system and then beyond. If you have never seen one such show, you must see one. Very close view of planets and galaxies will mesmerize you and open your eyes towards the vastness of space.

When the show ended it was almost 8:20. Birla temple looked stunningly beautiful from there. My phone camera is not justifying it here.

Temple view from the planetarium

You cannot take mobile devices inside the temple. It has to be deposited at the locker center. Being the almost end of time there was a rush and queue. After depositing our phones we started climbing up the stairs. Temple is made of white marble. For elderly and disabled there is a lift facility. Temple is of Lord Vishnu. We had to move along in queue for almost 30 minutes. Being on top of the hill and at night a gentle breeze was flowing, which made this wait pleasant. The view of the Hussainsagar lake and necklace road is amazing.
The crowd was chanting "Govinda, Govinda". Finally, we entered the inner temple and got a chance to see the main idol. My son quipped that we had to wait for so long for 2-minute darshan. 

After collecting our mobile phones, we had a double dose of sugarcane juice which energized us for the drive home. By the time we reached home it is was a quarter to 11. Visit to ISKON temple is for some other time.

राजकुमार वीरवर्धन और शैतानी जादूगर

राजकुमार वीरवर्धन एक बार अपने पिता  महाराज की आज्ञा पर एक दुसरे राज्य के राजा के पास मित्रता का प्रस्ताव लेकर जा रहे थे | रास्ता लम्बा था और बीच में एक घना जंगल | वैसे तो राजकुमार ऐसे मौकों पर अकेले ही जाना पसंद करते थे, किन्तु महाराज की आज्ञा थी की एक विश्वासी व्यक्ति को अवश्य अपने साथ ले जाएं | अतः राजकुमार ने अपने मित्र सुकान्त को साथ आने का आग्रह किया | सुकान्त राजकुमार के बचपन के मित्र थे और राजसी सेना के महत्वपूर्ण अधिकारी भी थे |

दोने मित्र आपस में तरह तरह की बातें करते हुए अपने घोड़ों पर सवार होकर चल दिए | भूख लगती तो राज्य के गांव वालो से खाना मिल जाता और आराम करने के लिए घने पेड़ों की छाव | बीच बीच में तेज घुरसवारी की मुकाबला भी हो जाती | कभी राजकुमार वीरवर्धन जीत जाते तो कभी उनके मित्र सुकान्त | इस तरह से मजे करते हुए वे लोग अपने राज्य के सीमान्त तक आ पहुंचे | सामने वह विशाल घना जंगल भी आ गया | सुकान्त ने कहा की अब हम दोनों साथ ही सावधानी पूर्वक चलेंगे |

अनुमानतः ७  दिन का रास्ता था जंगल के बीच से | पहला दिन बिना किसी विशेष बाधा के कट गया | उन्होंने तरह तरह के जंगली जानवर देखे | पर ना ही किसी जानवर ने उन दोनों को परेशान किया और न ही उन लोगों ने किसी जानवर को | रात के समय बारी बारी से पहरा देते हुए दोनों सो गए | संयोग ऐसा बना की कोई  फल वाला पेड़ नहीं मिला जिसके फल खाकर दोनों अपनी भूख मिटा सकें |  उनके पास जो भी पहले का बचा हुआ खाने का सामान था सब ख़तम हो गया था |

दोनों दोस्त की भूख के मारे बुरी हालत हो रही थी | सूरज भी ढल गया था | तभी उन्हें कुछ दूरी पर एक रौशनी सी दिखाई दी | उनके आश्चर्य का ठिकाना नहीं था | रौशनी की तरफ घोड़ों को मोरा | कुछ दूर जाने पर देखते हैं की एक आलिशान भवन है | उसकी देखभाल करने के लिए जंगली कबीले के लोग थे | राजकुमार ने उनसे कहा की उन्हें भूख लगी है | परन्तु वे लोग राजकुमार की बात नहीं समझ पा रहे थे | उन्होंने आपस में कुछ विचित्र भाषा में बात चीत की जो की वीरभद्र और सुकान्त नहीं समझ पाए | उनमें से एक भवन के अंदर गया | थोड़ी ही देर में एक महात्मा बाहर आये |

महात्मा ने राजकुमार से सारा हाल समाचार जाना | उन्होंने कहा की वह पहले एक बहुत ही सफल व्यापारी थे | बाद में जब उनका मन सांसारिक जीवन से भर  गया  तो उन्होंने इस जंगल के बीच अपना घर बनाया | अब वह यही पर रहते हैं और प्रभु भजन करते हैं | पास के कबीले के लोग उनके पास रहना पसंद करते हैं और उनकी सुरक्षा करते हैं | उन्होंने राजकुमार और उनके मित्र को रात भवन में बिताने का निमंत्रण दिया | वीरभद्र और सुकान्त के लिए तो यह मन मांगी बात हो गयी |

वे दोनों जब भवन के अंदर गए तो उन्होंने देखा की बहुत सारे तरह तरह के जानवर भी वहां थे | पेड़ों पर तरह तरह की चिड़ियाँ थी | कई तरह के जानवर खूंटे से बंधे थे और कुछ तो बड़े से पिंजरे के अंदर भी बंद थे | राजकुमार और सुकान्त को देखकर न जाने उन सब पशु पक्षियों को क्या हो गया | सभी तरह तरह की आवाजें निकलने लगे | तभी महात्मा ने एक जोर की हुंकार की और सभी चुप | यह देखकर उन्हें बहुत आश्चर्य हुआ |

फिर महात्माजी उन्हें एक कमरे में बिठा कर खाने का प्रबंध करने चले गए | सुकान्त को यह सब बहुत खटक रहा था | उसने राजकुमार से कहा की वह थोड़ा आस पास देख कर आता है | और फिर सुकान्त महात्मा के पीछे चुपके से चल पड़ा | उसने देखा की सारे जानवर उसकी तरफ टक टक देख रहे हैं | लेकिन सब चुप हैं | ऐसा लगता है की बहुत भयभीत हों | वह रसोई घर की तरफ गया | वहां पर खिड़की के नीचे खरा होकर वह सारी बात चुप चाप सुनने लगा | महात्मा कबीले वालों को जोर जोर से कुछ करने के लिए कह रहे थे | उनकी बात को सुनकर सभी कबीले वाले काफी खुश हो कर उत्साह में काम करने लगे | फिर जैसे की महात्मा खुद से बात करने लगे - " अहा आज तो मजा आ गया | अब इनको मैं बेहोश करके जादू से इन्हें भी जानवर बना दूंगा | मेरे पास अब १०० इंसानी जानवर होने ही वाले हैं | फिर इन सबकी बलि होगी नरपिशाच के सामने | और मुझे मिलेगी अद्भुत शैतानी ताकत | अहा कितना मजा आएगा | "

सुकान्त सब समझ गया | वह चुपके से राजकुमार के पास वापस आ गया | उसने राजकुमार को सब बात बता दी | वीरभद्र ने सब सुनकर कहा - " चलो हमारा यहाँ आना बहुत जरूरी था | इस दुष्ट ढोंगी जादूगर को मारकर हम इस आतंक को ख़तम कर देते हैं | " जब थोड़ी देर बाद महात्मा आये तो वीरभद्र ने कहा - " महात्माजी हम बिना संध्या आरती किये हुए भोजन नहीं करते हैं | एक काम करते हैं पहले हम इश्वर भजन करेंगे थोड़ी देर फिर भोजन करेंगे | " यह सुनकर वह  ढोंगी साधू घबरा गया | वीरभद्र और सुकान्त ने जोर से शिव भजन करना आरम्भ कर दिया | उस ढोंगी साधू से यह सब सुना न गया | थोड़ी ही देर में उसका चेहरा क्रोध से तमतमाने लगा | भला शैतानी शक्ति को प्रभु भजन कैसे सुहाए | उसने साधू का भेष त्याग दिया और अपने असली दुष्ट जादूगर के रूप में आ गया |

ऐसा होना था की वीरभद्र और सुकान्त ने अपनी तलवार उसके सामने तान दी | राजकुमार ने कहा - " चालबाज ढोंगी , आज तेरा खेल ख़तम | इससे पहले की में तेरे प्राण ले लूं , जल्दी से सब को अपनी माया से मुक्त कर | "  जादूगर बहुत ही डर गया | उसने राजकुमार से कहा की अगर भवन में उपस्थित शैतान की मूर्ती को नष्ट कर दिया जाए तो सभी कैदी मुक्त हो जायेंगे | राजकुमार और सुकान्त जादूगर के साथ शैतान की मूर्ति के पास गए | वहां तरह तरह के सांप और बिच्छू उस मूर्ति के चारो ओर मंडरा रहे थे | राजकुमार ने अपना भाला उठाया और निशाना लगा कर मूर्ति के सर पर दे मारा | यह होते ही सारे कबीले वाले जोर जोर से रोने चिल्लाने लगे | फिर वो सब तरह तरह के जंगली जानवर बन गए | कोई भेड़िया तो कोई लकड़बग्घा | फिर सब जंगल की तरफ भागे | और भवन में कैद सारे पशु पक्षी मनुष्य रूप में आ गए |

सब राजकुमार और उनके मित्र की इस बहादुरी के गुण गान करने लगे | वे सब जंगल से गुजरने वाले पथिक थे जो की जादूगर के चक्कर में फस कर यहाँ कैद हो गए थे | राजकुमार और सुकान्त ने जादूगर को रस्सियों की मजबूत बंधन में बंधा और उन पथिकों से कहा की - " इस धोखेबाज को राजा के पास ले जाइये | वही इस का उचित दंड देंगे | "

फिर राजकुमार और सुकान्त ने सबके साथ भोजन किया और वहां से अगले सुबह अपनी आगे की यात्रा के लिए निकल पड़े |

(c) Anup Mayank 2019

पहले की कहानी 

बूनरोड - भाग्य विजेता

क्या आप गहरे समुद्र में अकेले तट से २२० किलोमीटर की दूरी पर उम्मीद को जीवित रखते हुए संघर्ष कर सकते हैं | थाईलैंड में यह अद्भुत कारनामा एक कुत्ते ने कर दिखाया | वह ना जाने कितने समय से अकेले तैर रहा था | थक कर चूर हो गया था | पर हार नहीं मानी |   इसी कारन उसे ढूंढने वालों ने उसका नाम बूनरोड यानी की भाग्य विजेता रख दिया | यह कहानी हमें आशावान रहने की सीख देती है | 

Myth vs Reality

Some days back I was having snacks with a few of my colleagues. The topics of discussion were varied and at one point in time, we started discussing the movie 300. We all agreed that it was a delight to watch such muscularly toned fighters. 

The real trouble started when I mentioned that it is based on real story of Xerxes's invasion of Greece. However, people were not ready to believe it as being real. They were insistent on it being a mythical story just like so many mythical stories we have read in the Indian context.

Which brings the question is that why was this person, who with a good educational background is opposing instead of checking the facts. Unless we are willing to challenges our own learnings how will we separate myth from reality?

Book Summary - On Grand Strategy

On Grand Strategy is a collection of leadership strategies deployed by famous leaders. In this book, John Lewis Gaddis tries to analyze which strategies work and what one should avoid.

The author starts with a scenario of Xerces crossing Hellespont. Xerces is looking for final counsel before he marches on and he is given a non-committal answer by his counselor and uncle Artabaun. He marches ahead without any strategy on how he plans to fight Greeks. From here author starts comparing fox vs hedgehog analogy. Xerces is a hedgehog who knows only to move ahead.

In "Long walls" chapter Peloponnesian war is discussed in the context of Pericles. The author argues that the walls surrounding Athens were created to serve two purposes. One to defend itself, at the same time it also created a kind of focus boundary for Athenians. Pericles didn't respect this boundary and got involved in a war which didn't concern Athens. One of the possible reasons attributed is that he may look weak to his adversaries and didn't want to lose his position. His rigidity in later stages of life leads to the Athenian empire's decline.

In Teachers and Tethers, chapter life of Octavian Caeser aka Augustus Caesar is discussed. Augustus was physically weak, wasn't a great military commander and as per those days unfit to rule. But he overcame his weakness by being a fox and navigating his path carefully in adverse scenarios. He faced challenges from a much powerful adversary such as Mark Anthony but was able to make him an ally first and then crush him in the end.  He left the legacy of a strong roman empire at the age of late seventies.

"Souls and states" focuses on Machiavelli and Augustine. Augustine has prescribed how rulers can conduct the affairs of state such as war, punishment, etc and still reach the city of God. God is the ultimate authority over these matters. Thus Augustine has achieved sainthood despite his previous shocking work of Confessions. On the contrast Machiavelli likes to keep the affairs of state and God separate, thus being labeled a sinner. Augustine imagines a city of God whereas in Machiavelli's mind is occupied with public affairs on earth. Machiavelli maintains that there is no single standard by which men must live and they should take it easy (don't sweat over it) in contradictions. Whereas Augustine prescribes a path of doing this and does that.

Life of Queen Elizabeth of England and King Philip of Spain is compared in "Princes as Pivots". Elizabeth's rule is decentralized. She delegates responsibility and still has complete control over her kingdom and life. Whereas Phillip likes to control each and every aspect of his large empire. He is continuously swamped with work.

Gandipet Lake

For past 18 months Hyderabad is my home. I am not going to write about famous Hyderabadi Biryani here. That is well known. Compared to Pune, I find Hyderabadi restaurants are more liberal in serving sizes.

Anyways coming back to Gandipet Lake (aka Osmansagar Lake).
It is closer to Gachibowli area where I am living. Thus so fare I have visited this area 3-4 times. Lake is a huge water reservoir with a park adjacent to it. Kids love it. From the walkway you can enjoy the beautiful scenary over there.

Today we reached there around sunset and it was very beautiful in every sense.

Sunset at the Lake

Shiva Temple

Trevor Noah

If you are into American Politics then the name "Trevor Noah" is not a mystery to you. His show The Daily show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central is very popular.

I happened to watch some of his episodes on Youtube about a month back and since then I have been hooked on to it. He and his team presents serious issues about politics, technology, environmental and social issues in a very light way which is fun to watch and understand.

Recently I got a chance to read his book Born a Crime in which he walks us through his childhood. He is son of a white father and a black mother in Apartheid era of South Africa. The book gives a glimpse of social and racial issues in South Africa.

I wish we too had a similar show in India where raw facts were presented in light way. 

Keep check on your thoughts

We cannot leave our thoughts unguarded. For example if we are feeling sad or anger at something or someone, we must take a break and think back, whether our feeling is truly justified. Is it really a big deal? Opposite is also true. We need to check our exuberance and control ourselves from committing something huge in a very heightened jubilant mode.

Daniel Goleman writes in his book Focus - "Attention to our inner selves and outer world provides the mechanism to voluntary Regulation of our thoughts and feelings."

Bahot Dukha Mann

I am hooked to this song from Mukkabaj movie (I haven't yet got the chance to see movie)

This is a song which touches your soul. Awesome lyrics by Hussain Haidry and very soft music by Rachita Arora and well sung by Dev Arijit and Rachita Arora.

Vocal rendition makes you feel the pain of characters and will calm you down.

Departure

Every departure is small death. Converse is not true. Just as entropy always increases, so does departure raises loss of life moments. These losses are unknown. And unknown losses cause more grief than the known ones.

But unless you depart, how will new possibilities form? How will you witness new tale? How will we ever know the unknown? You lose some in the hope of some gain.

And hope is the greatest gift to humanity as told in Pandora's perilious tale. After all the sorrows and pain she found hope. So l must depart to find that new hope. I must leave to find a new tale.

(C) Anup Mayank

Book Review - The Unfrazzled-Kite

The Unfrazzled Kite by Kamal Panda
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a story of love, sacrifice and human values. Story revolves around a small place in Orissa. Author has beautifully woven a story of 3 generations. In fact there are multiple sub-stories along with the main course of story. I think there were several other POV characters who have their own side of story to tell, but has not been captured here. E.x. one of the main character Smita leaves a lot to yearn for her. How she endured all is kind of omitted. Nevertheless it is a short read for your enjoyment. Hope you like it.

PS: Author is a close friend of mine. So my views are slightly biased here, despite my attempt to provide an unbiased review. Hope he writes more books on varied topics in coming days.

View all my reviews

Book Review - Ghachar Ghochar

Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a perfect dosage of Sambhar with Coffee. A tale of how fortune changes the life of close knit family. The family is still close, but their values have now changed. To maintain this seemingly good life what all compromises and atrocities they commit both to themselves and other. Author has very cleverly painted the scenes of everyday battles in Indian households. It also shows how muddled our thinking is and we are unable to take a right decision and remain indecisive. Essentially we live in Ghachar Ghochar.

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Book Review : Olympus an Indian Retelling of the Greek Myths

Olympus: An Indian Retelling of the Greek Myths by Devdutt Pattanaik
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a fan of reading mythical stories. In that regards this book was a treat to me. I have enjoyed reading stories about several Greek heroes and their tragedies. Now I understand the phrase "Greek Tragedy". Devdutt has tried to draw parallels with Indian mythical stories. My only complain with author is that he has tried to cram a lot of stories in a short book. Thus it looks like reading notes for an exam. But nevertheless it is a good book to get a crash course in Greek Mythology.

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Book review : The Time Keeper

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A good story on how we waste our beautiful days and nights to be in a hurry to do one thing or the other. We are increasingly fail to appreciate what we have got and running after what we don't have. I happened to pick this book out of library just by chance and I am glad that I gave life a chance here.

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Craziness behind Kid's education

Today I happened to watch a forwarded video of a very young child reading 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

It is horrible to see that mother (my presumption) is shouting at such a young kid and also slapping her. And to make matter worse someone was filming it and shared it to whole wide world. 

This again proves that phones are getting smart, even cities are getting smart, but people in general are getting dumber. What possible good will come out of it. Will the child appreciate it or start hating it. What about her crushed soul.

I am part of a whatsapp group of the parents of my kids class. This group is helpful in information sharing about school, missed classes etc. But again I see a disturbing trend that at exam time there is desperation and undue pressure on kids. Parents discussing exam at 1130 in night is definitely not a good sign. 

If you are a parent of any such young kid, please let him/her be a kid. By all means educate them. But don't put undue pressure on them. They need our love and patience. Not the crazy, angry scolding attitude. 

Staying away from facebook

Last weekend we made a sudden plan to visit natural beauties around Pune. And as it happens that during drive, you talk. So me and my wife were talking of life in general. 

One of the point we both agreed that mobile phone usage is increasing in the house. Even kids are getting hooked to them, which we universally agree is not a good thing. 

But the problem is that how can we stop kids if we are continuously looking at mobile phone for whatsapp or facebook or gmail. Out of these we made an immediate resolution is that we are going to stop facebook from that day itself.

Now it has been a week and both of us haven't logged in to facebook. It is tempting, to go and check on others. Especially looks like facebook is keeping a track of who is not logging in. We get an email from facebook saying so and so has added a pic or commented on this or that.

But so far we have not gave in to temptation. Well it has not completely eliminated all distraction, but it is a good start. I am hoping to keep out of facebook for a longer duration. Lets see how successful we can be. 

Three questions

(1) When is the right time to begin everything?

(2) Who are the important people to listen to?

(3) What is the most important thing to do?


These are the questions discussed in a short story written by Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy gives a very valuable life lesson in form of this story and I will encourage readers to go through this story and other such short stories.

However to satiate the query raised in above 3 questions, following is the answer

(1) There is only one time that is right- Now ! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.

(2) The most important man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with any one else.

(3) Most important thing to do is, to do that man good. Help him, serve him best as you can.

मनचला मौसम

देखो मौसम के ये धोखे
सर्दी बाद गर्मी आयी
कहाँ गए वसंत के वो झोंके

(c) Anup Mayank 2016

पशोपेश

बालेवाड़ी की वो सन सन करती हवा
मेरी कांच की खिड़कियों से टकराती हुई
एक दस्तक देती है कि बाहर निकल
जिन्दगी पुकारती है बाहर निकल

काम बहुत थे और थी जद्दोजहद बड़ी
मन को समझाता बस एक और फिर सही
मगर मन को रोक न पाया मैं
ऊंची उठती उन लहरों को रोक न पाया मैं

बंद किये सारे झमेले के पिटारे
खोला मन का वो कोना
फिर निकल ही गया बाहर
जिंदगी से कहा चलो मुस्कुराएँ।