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Monday, November 30, 2015

Time -its entire gamut






Start ups ecosystem and how we evolve depends on how we evaluate.

Start ups ecosystem and how we evolve depends on how we evaluate.

The problem is as rightly said is due to ecosystem.

We cannot deny or defy the importance of anything because sometimes the best things happen from unplanned and unexpected sources. However, this cannot be taken as a rule to be followed.

But at the same time let us be also open to take suggestions which come from any source.

A serious entrepreneur cannot afford to ignore the advice by a non profession uncle/aunt with serious and sincere intention, interest and in some case intuition too.

Accessibility to information is assumed as knowledge, experience, expertise, and worse still, sometimes even construed or confused as specialization.

The problem of the ecosystem is because everyone is feeling compelled to mimic media reporters and TV anchors and try to act as know all or judge all experts  on every issue  or individual  even without doing necessary ground work or reference.

At the same time it is also true that professionalism need not necessarily happen due to mere academic qualification or long time occupation or association with any particular activity.

It also must be accepted and acknowledged that human beings in greater number have evolved intellectually to a very great extent, particularly in recent times with more emphatic awareness on many issues and this coupled with hugely available and easily accessible material on many domains has enabled many people to know something about everything though there may be only a few who may bother to know or really know everything about something. In short there are many Jacks Of All Trades in the world now than at earlier generations.

Incidentally today’s [30th November 2015] tweet by @scientifact  is,  “The "Original Thought Theory" states that anything anyone can ever say, has already been said by someone else.

So, having got some idea about and acknowledged that the ecosystem harbors lot of unsolicited and unreliable advises it is upon the individual/promoter/entrepreneur to have more clarity on what he/she wants to do and make appropriate choices and decisions based on correct evaluation relevant to the requirement and context without letting too many extraneous considerations to confuse the decision making.

These words choice, decision, evaluation etc are indeed difficult to describe exactly because they  have multiple meanings and are impregnated with immense sense and extraordinary significance capable of delivering great results when actually applied to the context.

Therefore the ecosystem also offers a positive element, like information overload, lot of data, various suggestions, many facts, myriads of documented records of experiences etc.

So most importantly we can avoid these usual traps while exploring the facts we must desist getting distracted by:-

Mutilating the facts,

Analyzing them with preconceived notions or prejudices,

Generalizing the particular and particularizing the general,

Approaching facts with unloving criticism or uncritical love,

Evaluating facts with our pet isms or philosophies,
Resorting to statistical justifications,

 Unleashing unworkable utopia,

 Mask them with logical fallacies,

Mute them in pleasant jargons, and

Give historical justifications

Comprehend with confirmation bias or pre conceived conclusions

Trying to over simplify the complicated and over complicate the simple factors/aspects.

On matters of evaluation I have studied, written a lot and experienced through bitter experiences in many spheres that life’s churning process [which includes all areas of  business as well]  is not that easy to decipher nor can we be assured what it throws up but that does not mean that we have to be passive spectators or pusillanimous persons relying on conjectures and gamble without rules, plans, perspectives, methods, measures etc

On evaluation even great research works like the bulky  ‘Evaluation: A Systematic Approach‘ by Peter H. Rossi, Mark W. Lipsey, and Howard E. Freeman first published  get such reviews like ‘There is never any clear instruction about how one should begin an evaluation or how one should proceed’.

The most comprehensive book on evaluations ‘ Making Evaluation Matter-a practical guide for evaluators’ by Cecile Kusters with Simone van Vugt, Seerp Wigboldus, Bob Williams and Jim Woodhill also emphasizes certain factors repeatedly and predominantly they are context/situation, situational responsiveness, stake holders, inherent qualities of the project /program/person being evaluated ,multiple roles, consequence awareness etc
Even this material also throws lot of light on evaluation ‘American Journal of Evaluation-2011-Smith-565-99.pdf

Here I am tempted to quote, “Friend to Groucho Marx: “Life is hard…” Grouch Marx to Friend: “Compared to what?”




The churning process of life 




Friday, November 27, 2015

Music season -2015




December music festival season 2015

Wish all the artists a great season with more rasikas attending them.

I am happy some artists are honest about it that they would like to have at least one tenth the number of friends that they have in facebook and whatsapp to be present during their concerts.

This honest acceptance and sorry situation must also lead us to some realization to rectify certain short comings and effect the necessary changes, if possible.

First we need to set right certain very simple things that are to listen and enjoy a karnatik music concert one need not necessarily require great knowledge but only sharp ears and better listening with interest. So there need not be any inhibition.  

Do we have any inhibition to watch movies in India where most often when anyone falls in love with another person of the opposite sex [ I do not want to misuse the word hero or heroine] immediately they must dance and run in a beach, preferably in Mauritius or Australia with a group of at least ten other people changing the attire every two minutes; or hold hands, safest way to get censor board clearance, in a mall at Singapore or in front of some internationally labeled monument or swing near a waterfalls?

Actually till date, at least personally, I have not understood this type of love making at all.

Do we have any inhibition to watch a very angry person with a gun or big sword holding it and delivering a lecture to his enemy, longer than the ones I have ever heard in my college days, and then after the enemy escapes jump over buildings, hang on to the wings of plane etc to catch the enemy to continue the lecture!

I can never understand these anyway.

Nor do I have any objection? Who am I to question them anyway? But nor do I see anyone attempting to do social engineering in these art forms questioning why love making must be done only in that way? Why shooting an enemy must be done only after a lecture etc?

There are consumers and producers so from making films we now manufacture them to suit the tastes of the consumers or we have effectively conditioned the consumers to want only such products ad nausea.

So it is not just about concerts and crowds, lack of knowledge or inhibition etc.

It is a manifestation of many of our attitudinal problems starting from lack of patience; unwillingness, ignorance and indifference to learn of art of appreciation and want of aesthetic sensitivity; confusing and evaluating a particular art form with irrelevant and illogical comparisons and evaluations; trying to deprive it of its very essential ingredients; smudging it with clumsy political overtones; performing most of the things more as a ritual rather than with real reverence for substance; worst part  criticizing performers/performance on things unrelated to music and indirectly in general belittle the very art through various means  despite the fact that the people who do these may not ultimately gain any great tangible benefit out if it.

Everything knows its own evolutionary process, and I think karnatik music is too great to succumb to squeezing by small minds and smaller crowds.



Classical music and Natyams are not a few sabhas centric activities, nor are they a few artists centric nor a few media houses centric nor a few institutions centric.



They are massive universes where in all these are either significant or not so significant planets moving about either with or without life.


Excuse me for trying to over generalize but these are some observations that I made as a naïve listener who also happen to be an avid rasika with very little knowledge.

The fact is nowadays there are more performers than Rasikas.

Even the rasikas are hard pressed for time; traffic is an excuse, many other options available on audio-visual media and internet etc; besides many do not have the luxury of attending so many concerts and for long duration. There are also many genuine constraints.

People want something of everything in anything; you can call it multiplex mentality or masala movie syndrome [ I remember a popular but learned producer when asked why he was making such silly movies mixing everything in a particular theme said ‘baba Hindi movie mei masala chahiye sab cheese ko thoda thoda aur kuche bhi nei choda] because we would like to have a short go at everything, a brief peep into something then a peck at something else.

For example this is the 20th topic that I am reading or writing in the past 10 hours. That’s why search engines are more popular than old reference books or library.  




The performers and sabhas all will have to pay more attention to acoustics, here in though I am tempted to explain in detail many unpleasant things in Karnatik music circuit I prefer to exercise restraint.

Besides, the distractions are too many like operating mobiles and lap tops during concerts, in addition to the usual constant chatting with others etc.

More often many concerts are performed very ritualistically without substance by some artists  who are more conscious about impressing with rendering of more kritis, more complicated pieces beyond their expertise, capacity of their lung power, strength of their vocal chords etc  which deprives music of its bhava and leaves the listener  dissatisfied.

More than everything else there are too many programs crammed in a very short span which has its own share of votaries in the form of status quo addicts who want it for various reasons some valid some mere justifications put forth/assigned to vindicate their position.

All said and done there is a festive mood and there are some who enjoy it.

Too much of questioning may end up winding it up. So we need to find more ways and means as to how to not only uphold the rich tradition but also update/upgrade it in such way without depriving it of its musical richness and make the tradition to an appealing transformation through a very effective, acceptable, pleasant but without compromising any component of musical richness through some form of transition which some senior musicians are already doing or attempting to do.

Emphasis must be more on expressing the joy that one derives out of music, the experiences that one has enjoyed through the journey of music rather than exhibiting the technical skills, though they are also necessary but the emphasis must be more of bhava.


I sometimes wonder whether artists should be bothered at all about the number of concerts they perform, time slots of their concerts etc especially during December music season.


I wish all artists realize that the greatness of an artist is neither the number of concerts he/she performs nor the crowd of rasikas that flock to their concerts or the slot that they get to perform nor even in the awards that they get etc.

I have given below some links which can/may be used as reference to


1. Can we deprive carnatic music of its main ingredients? This was as a reply to someone writing some aspects of carnatic music as being a hindrance to its development

2.  What contributes to greatness?
Recently while writing about science I wrote this small piece and I think this applies to many domains of human activity. http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2015/10/real-greatness-of-science.html

3. Distraction from karnatic music through irrelevant priorities


4. Why at any cost we must try to promote carnatic music actively

5. Dress code is not a major contributory factor to carnatic music

6. 2013 Music festival

7. There is definitely a need for transition and transformation without compromising too much on tradition because in ancient classical art forms tradition acts as a measuring tool and also set the rules /grammar so one cannot totally deviate with carefree abandon

8. Carnatic music will gloriously survive in all its splendor despite everything else.

Page 141of ‘Becoming Indian’ by Pavan K. Varma
“When people are the subjects of their own culture, their creative expression has self –assuredness and spontaneity, so they create a unique and effective language of communication even when the grammar is imperfect. This is because the idiom is authentic. But when people become objects of a foreign culture, a huge transformation takes place. Suddenly, a creative work is judged not for its intrinsic value, or for the heritage it is sourced from or is a part of, but for the degree to which it is comprehensible and conforms to the outsider’s culture. The process is all the more mutilating if the outsider belongs to the dominant political or military power of the time [or a putrefied political ideology-italics mine], and there is necessary prejudice, condescension and prurience in his gaze. When this happens, spontaneity reduces itself to self –conscious mediocrity; creativity seeks to qualify itself [to some irrelevant yard stick]; authenticity gives way to imitation; self –assurance is replaced by denial. An entire culture attempts to reinterpret itself in terms that will somehow win the dominant outsider’s approval. The ‘objectified’ people then thrive only as exotica; their historic role becomes that of the observed; everything external about them –and nothing of intrinsic value-is collated, classified and investigated. They finally end up as caricatures, divorced from their own cultural milieu and perpetually alien-in spite of their best efforts at emulation-to that of the outsider.” [What is more pathetic is the hitherto insiders getting converted into outsiders causing chaos]

Please note: All things written in this quote in brackets and in italics are mine.




Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Proclaiming intentions better than policy paralysis and pretensions


I have always wondered how all spy stories, theories, actual spying, security inputs, intelligence gathering and sharing are over powered by the multi pronged but masked international political manipulations or threats, enhanced further by advanced technology.

Besides as most people do not have real access to many micro details of military intelligence, security inputs and therefore any or all debates by people who are not in the thick of these activities are bound to be inadequate to that extent and sometimes could at best be possibilities/possible dreams/wishes weaved around perceptions that one has based on different narrations and claims.

But having read many political criticisms and analysis and works by and about Henry Kissinger’s, Churchill, Disraeli, Thatcher  and gleaning through history of politics or politics of history in today’s contextual perspective some of the old models are still worth adopting but not all of them because the narrative of international and intra national relations are defined by various factors and are inextricably interconnected in many ways due to evolving necessities of  civilization and exigencies of economy.

So any aggressive war as real estate acquisition activity or even territorial claim /protection with armed aggression may be only counterproductive and inflict more loss to all sides.


What works more effectively is of course as always propaganda, power-both economic and political; in addition powerful pals in international community and activities like diplomatic wheedling and so on.

The notions of perceived threats and presumed enemies as being confined in any particular geographical location is also not always correct as can be seen in many undeclared wars and attacks from within in many places.


So, no nation is willing to take any obsessive paranoiac declared stand against any other nation, more so any neighbor, unless it is inevitable as in some specific cases.

It is always burden or risk rather than any benefit by being a friend or an enemy of a whole group of people steeped in tradition and unwilling to adapt to evolving trends of civilization. This applies to groups on both extremes of the spectrum the radical and pusillanimous.

Specifically regarding Tibet, as they belong to the second category indicated above i.e a very timid race. Even in 2014 many Tibetians were only self immolating in thousands without either bravely fighting or garnering ideological support from any nation or even realizing that they need to look at and rectify their short comings in the present generation.


I think psychologically and practically as a nation its citizens will have to start living in sync with the present times which will be the only liberating factor for them as a nation.

India cannot afford to be their patron or protector. Morally we can sympathize with their plight, but practically we have nothing to gain irrespective of whatever happens to Tibet because if we take it as our task it will be more of a burden of feeding a few lakh monks and Sherpas who are not going to be of any use to anyone. They have refused to get updated in a highly competitive, cut throat, cunning, corrupt world of political maneuvering.

So, in my view proclaiming an intention is an important step, but obviously not the ultimate goal or even an effective tool which everyone including those who are proclaiming it, are aware of and they do not need to take lesson on international diplomacy from any news room reporter.
What is of greater importance is  to make other nations change their perception of us as a nation with dignity and take note of us rather than either ignore us or look down at us but interact with us with due diplomatic respect and relevance in larger scheme of things.

At any time in a nation’s life proclaiming intentions, that too positive intentions, is better than policy paralysis and pretensions.


Saturday, November 21, 2015

Art Of Writing


A need for Swatch Bharath in Literary circles- Sahitya Academy raise to the occasion- an intolerant appeal from a tolerant citizen.

In brief language is the queen of sciences and king of arts because all arts and sciences can be expressed and explained fully; enjoyed and experienced at least to a certain extent through language.

Language helps better understanding of many things.

So there is no need to explain further as from religious scriptures to political speeches to all scripts, to research findings to song lyrics are weaved out of words of some language.

The greatness of language over any other medium like music, painting, science etc is its unhindered, unlimited access to any or many or almost all dimensions of life known and perceivable to human beings. In that aspect language is omnipotent in its influence and impact.

As a medium it uses two methods Oral [speaking] and written [writing].

Whether it is used to express and explain thoughts, ideas, concepts, facts, events, actions, reactions, feelings, imagination, stories, discoveries, descriptions, fantasies, social, religious, cultural systems, dreams etc determine the favorite frame of reference of the speaker or writer.

Whatever is the frame of reference it is wrong and very narrow to generalize writings, all writings as having something to do with some political ideology. There cannot be more degrading view about writing.

One person’s writings on any subject/topic may manifest a tinge of or totality of some regional culture; another’s may manifest a tinge of or totality of some local festival; another’s may manifest a tinge of or totality of the fantasies he/she dreams of; another’s may manifest a tinge of or totality of rational /philosophical approach in everything.

So the level discussion about writing in general in our Sahitya academy reveals a very conditioned and confined mentality which is not at all healthy for the nation.

As we are after almost six decades trying to take great strides in economic development , scientific activities, technological achievements etc we also need to pay attention to ensure to revive the glorious literary traditions of our nation which have been gifted to the world through great literary descriptions of Kalidasa, the great epics of Valmiki and Vyasa etc; to  great philosophical literature through many scholars starting from Adi shankara through Swami Vivekananda to Shri Auro Bindou to Rabindra Nath Tagore to Kabir to Kamban to JK to Osho etc and also synchronize them with great writings of the globe in various languages. Kindly excuse me for not mentioning many great works in many great languages of India as the list will be too big and besides I have not savored them in their original language.

The hall mark of most ancient literature in India has been the unbiased, unconditioned and board minded expression in any topic they chose, never shunning anything out of any bias, that’s why as a civilization, perhaps Bharath was, perhaps the first country to have a detailed discussion in atheism through scriptures.

So, at any cost the literary scenario has to be saved from the narrow gutters of political ideology peddlers, especially the self proclaimed leftists who have appropriated the label of intelligentsia. It is actually a very good sign that some among them have realized the need to clean the literary scene by coming forward to return their awards voluntarily.

It is a good beginning, let Government of India/Ministry of Culture/Sahitya  Academy etc please gracefully accept all the awards returned back and give it to those scholars who have been denied them for narrow political reasons. 

By doing this we can fulfill the need for Swatch Bharath in Literary circles.






Friday, November 20, 2015

Graceful retirement


Drops


DROPS in ocean of sensible political governance sometimes becomes more visible. 

DROPS-stands for Demonstrations Rallies Opposing Protesting and Sloganeering. 

This mixed with the  media mafia nexus with leftover Left lunatics engineering  irrelevant issue to divert voters acted as a heady cocktail with unpleasant hangover and headache ahead for Nitish from Lalu

They instigate people between two extremes of phobia and philia

The script is basically this: Leftist ideologies create an atmosphere in all places, in all ages leaving people culture less, pride less, identity less living a life in vacuous inanity and nurtured inferiority complex and a sense of victim hood where there is none. 

It was initially used as a political brainwashing technique as a ploy to play by magnifying the societal disparities to dislodge the Empires in many parts of the world but then gradually these self appointed leaders of socialist movements and leftist ideologies gradually replaced the kings and carried on the same atrocities and enjoyed the same privileges as the kings knowing well that they could easily intoxicate the masses with catchy slogans, brainwashing ideological sign posts, selective presentation of victim hood etc and in India since only this breed was subservient to a particular family and also clandestinely acted as a conduit of funds to many this breed was promoted with a label called Intelligentsia and they created their own parasites and parrots in many institutions and media houses. 

They are actually not even interested in Muslims , otherwise they would helped many Muslims to come out of poverty and got many more girls well educated . 

They just misuse them for promotion of their own selfish agenda through exploiting them. 

But now as more and more Muslim youth in India are seeing the reality these leftover Left and their other affiliated and afflicted beneficiaries are undergoing a identity crisis and holding on, like a sinking man, to the last straw the MSM.
Left are so desperate to survive after scripting all sorts of nonsense and instigating peace loving workers in all spheres of life through imagined stories of victim hood and illusions of ill treatment. 

Ensuring lack of development of Kerala and West Bengal, despite great scholars and excellent people, is a testimony to their outdated and unworkable ideological fixations. 

Today Karat talks of copying RSS where leaders don’t nominate their wives and where service is prioritized.


Spirituality and leadership

A great speech /article by jaggi Vasudevji

Is Spirituality Relevant to Leadership?

Not only leadership ,life in general is made of  multiple dimensions and most of which we are not even aware of due to various reasons.

If  remember correctly I have shared two of his interviews in the recent past in my FB wherein he talks in detail about this. Much more in detail and lucid enough for people to understand.                    

There are very few souls who have the fortune of  perceiving most of  the dimensions and fewer still who can really communicate with excellent verbal articulation to make people at least get a glimpse of their real wisdom gained through what one may call real communion with the universal spirit.

We can name a few like JK, Osho, Neale Donald Walsch, Ramana Maharishi,  Turumoolar [though he is a bit tough to understand]. By reading their works we may at least try to grasp bits and pieces of wisdom and more importantly apply at least a fragment of what we have understood in all aspects of life.

But on the question of spirituality itself as to what it is ? what is soul? can we ever understand it etc involves study of lot of things unless we are blessed with the grace of having a direct and spontaneous understanding.

Here are some pieces on spirituality







Time and change





Time and change have become inevitable part of our life because through them, either as measuring tools or as describing our observations, we grasp or try to express and explain the inevitable metamorphosis of life.


The only reality is life unfolding itself constantly through various manifestations of metamorphosis.

All the rest are ambiences of life [as Jaggi Vasudevji says because there are dimensions of life beyond the logically definable parameters] or accretions that we choose to understand life.

I am sharing some of my small write ups and some posts in my blog for those who have time and patience to read.

Various perceptions about time in brief 



Is chronology an intrinsic part of life


Change and why it is sometimes not liked / accepted with warmth 



Wednesday, November 18, 2015

What needs to be prioritized for India?

The galaxies of scholars/personalities who have contributed a wonderful write up please also ensure two items highlighted in this write up in yellow are prioritized over everything else.


The issues discussed are not new but the attitude towards them has changed from that of being passive, mute, meek and submissive spectators to at least starting to listen to and to be more precise starting to get access to the other side of the story, which in many cases happens to be true and which would have led Indians to be proud of their ancestry.

But unfortunately the other side of the story has been methodically and intentionally hidden thus for.


There is no point in doing a post mortem and pointing fingers as to why no one actively took it up all these years.

However we need to acknowledge without prejudice all the issues discussed here without blindly taking sides based on multiple ideological or doctrinal identities.


I have been upset and squirming like many others with impotent and frustrated anger at not being able to do much about the blatant lies peddled by massive forces for more than a few centuries. So it is not easy to undo all that assiduously developed and enormously funded lies in the name of history with one common factor that of total indifference or active suppression of India’s contributions and greatness.


The great works of philosophical concepts which delineate and describe many vital aspect of life of individual and his relationship to the society at large as well his emancipation as soul in its journey for further realization or emancipation from the works of Swami Vivekananda or Sri Aurobindo or Sri Ramana Maharishi etc [ I mean /refer to their non religious but philosophical works] never found any mention in many reference works be it Dictionary of philosophy of Dagobert David Runes [ a big old volume of which used to be at Madras University with a dirty red binding and I used to sit for hours and read that in 1979 to understand various philosophies] or many other encyclopedias emanating from various popular publications.


So I used to wonder how come such great and good works went unmentioned or just mentioned as a passing reference.

Then I realized that what matters in most matters is the combination of certain factors which contextually had a predominant impact and formed part of human evolution as social beings with national boundaries and limited resources to that extent.

Two among them are predominantly attracting out attention, namely,

A] Authority and power which makes the world to sit up and listen to you

B] The extent to which you provide utility value for them at least through well documented accounts of knowledge you have had in a language and idiom that they can understand.

This is obvious in any sphere that is why technological innovations get funded more than pure scientific  research because of its greater tangible utility and user friendly benefits, though researches in pure science is the foundation on which technologies are built.

Similarly the best form of authority and power that was respected and that has ruled the world in the past few centuries, when human knowledge dissemination, information sharing etc progressed enormously, has been largely due to economic prosperity and all its concomitant manifestations which have had such enormous impact, in many cases, rightly so, because they have enabled human progress much quicker in many spheres, made life more comfortable and pleasant in many activities etc.

However it is also true that they have had their own share of negative influences in terms of penetration into all spheres of human life.



Our greatest failure has been paying lack of attention to economic development and material prosperity both at individual level and as a social phenomenon.

We assumed that it was not part of or sometimes even deluded ourselves into believing that it was not one of the sacred aspects of life so why bother about it.

Regarding documentation, since we relied so much on oral tradition and imparting everything only to those interested in knowing we were pathetically short on much scientific documented evidence for many of the excellence that we had or at least claim to have had as others put it.


Even a Swami Vivekanda, Sri Aurobindo, Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi  were known to the world because of  two factors one their willingness to come out of insulations of hermitic life, ability to communicate in a Westerner’s language and also some Westerners who found and felt the need to spread their invaluable wisdom to the whole world.

In mathematics Ramanujam was unearthed and announced to the world by a Westerner; Bose too had to face a similar fact.

So as the adage goes better late than never, we must now put everything else behind us or keep them in abeyance as a part of hidden agenda and ulterior motive.

Please note that hidden agenda has to remain hidden and ensconced in diplomatic terms and delicate hypocritical posturing as  most noble cause peddling NGOs do in most parts of the world to ensure that they do not end up hindering the main agenda through adverse publicity by the lunatics who have suppressed our great history and divert the attention.

Truth must preferably better not to be presented through any brutal or in any blunt manner.

So, we need to prioritize two things now, in the present context of human evolution.

One emphasize and ensure economic development in all spheres which will empower many Indians and establish the authority and position of India as a powerful nation or at least allow the present government of BJP to do that;

Two establish institutions of governance with transparency and simplicity which can deliver the benefits of economic development to percolate to as many Indians as possible so India as a nation and Indians as individuals are respected and looked up to.

We can achieve all these in a grand manner because we have innumerable people willing to deliver, immense potential, innovative technologies, increased opportunities, itching youth who want economic development.

Once this is accomplished over a period of one or two decades then all the hidden agenda can surface safely.

The glory of our philosophy is so connected with life it will be adopted in any case ultimately for human welfare.

Having written all these I would like to share with those who have time to read to go through some of my write ups on almost most of the issues discussed in the write up at different times like:-

When issues concerning left appropriating labels of intelligentsia and liberal through media is not only aiding and abetting such a crime but also enhancing it through its tentacles of publicity and propaganda;

Hypocrisy- how all of us are subjected to it and also manifest it at various times because we do/follow many great things with a flippant ritualistic attitude just for the sake of doing it or for social acceptance or for publicity; damages and destructions by the left and why rightfully it will be left in the lurch by its own sponsors i.e. the media sooner or later;




We love gloating too much in our past glory without bothering to live in the present context with relevance;

We need to define things clearly and proceed with a definite plan of action.
We  must not jump into anything because it is sensational, savored by the media, sponsored by some vested interest groups /individuals who may have their own hidden agenda etc.

Leftist ideologies create an atmosphere in all places, in all ages leaving people culture less, pride less, identity less living a life in vacuous inanity and nurtured inferiority complex and a sense of victim hood where there is no such victimhood.

It was initially used as a political brainwashing technique as a ploy to play by magnifying the societal disparities to dislodge the Empires in many parts of the world but then gradually these self appointed leaders of socialist movements and leftist ideologues gradually replaced the kings and carried on the same atrocities and enjoyed the same privileges as the kings knowing well that they could easily intoxicate the masses with catchy slogans, brainwashing ideological sign posts, selective presentation of victim hood etc.

The following link carries an article reproduced

These are my write ups on various issues.












The mafia managers are




The means available with everyone to fight the above mafia are


We need patience having waited for centuries at least give a decade to MODI to accomplish the vision and mission needed for India




Sunday, November 15, 2015

International Day of Tolerance.

                                  International Day of Tolerance. 


The What? How? and Why? of Tolerance.



Also what it has got to do with Peace and how can we bring about peace?


Tolerance also requires knowing fully the impact, influence, interrelation of the 


entire gamut of  religions,identities &evolutionary trends etc 

and getting rid off things which are contextually  irrelevant .




Saturday, November 14, 2015

Why only few words for smell in most languages?




Why only few words for smell in most languages?

The reasons could be many, for that matter even for taste basically is classified only into 6 categories.

When it is a topic with a mixture of linguistics and biology two scholars automatically come across my mind one Steven Pinker and Guy Murchie.

The problem gets further complicated because over ‘5 million nasal sensory cells are capable of detecting a few thousand smells distinctly’ as we infer from The blind Traveller of James Holman and as Tristan Gooley writes in The Natural Explorer; Understanding Your Landscape, “ smell becomes a complex tapestry , squares of familiarity mixed with surprise, nostalgia and intrigue”. Very well said and smell carries with it more of mental associations with a predominance over other sensations. That’s why in the competition of the two organs nose and mouth, very often even food is recognized more with the smell than the taste, or at least the aroma precedes that of taste.

Smell seems to precede announcing either the expectation or arrival of something. Sometimes even when we read the word coffee we start smelling coffee, that’s why perhaps the expression ‘smell trouble’


Guy Murchie to my knowledge was the first question the very classification of senses into a very limited number and went on to write about Eleven [11] Senses of Radiation and Feeling,
Twenty-one [21] Senses of Chemistry, Mind and Spirit etc.

So I feel it is only appropriate that I glean into his works as to why the number of words for smell has been limited.  The italics and underlining gives out at least a partial explanation as to why we cannot and do not have many words for smell.


Guy Murchie in his excellent book The Seven Mysteries Of life  writes,

 “The primary smells, it turned out, are seven in number: camphoric, musky, floral, minty, ethereal, pungent and putrid, each of them produced by various molecules approximating a distinctive shape or having a definite electric charge, and each smellable only when it is received in the right one of seven different kinds of complementary cavities distributed among seven corresponding areas in the molecular walls of the olfactory nerve cells. If these are olfactory lies, it is because smell too is a kind of language.”



Guy Murchie writes further about smell:

“Linus Pauling announced the discovery in 1946 that "a molecule the same shape as a camphor molecule will smell like camphor even though it may be quite unrelated to camphor chemically."

And three years later R. W. Moncrieff reformulated the whole lock-and key concept in modern terms, followed by John Amoore, who called it the steric theory and, with the help of colleagues, pretty well established it by demonstrating that odors, like colors, can be sorted into a few primary ones of which all others are mixtures.”


“Even though odors can be wafted great distances on the wind and the keenest scented animals have proven they can detect a test aroma diluted to 10 ̄13 or only one molecule in ten trillion of average air, it still is hard to believe the confirmed reports that bloodhounds and other trained dogs have found a lost wallet, a gun or a vial of heroin under tons of manure, or concealed in a chemical factory reeking with fumes of sulfur or ammonia.”

“The explanation seems to be that no smell can completely cancel or camouflage another smell because the molecules both smells consist of are irretrievably diffused throughout the air they are in, and any two or more simultaneous odors, no matter how mixed, are smelled alternately in the olfactory cells and nerves, even though the alternations may be only milliseconds apart.”

“Furthermore a dog who has sniffed, say, a man's cap can later recognize any other part of him and easily follow his trail because there are recognizable olfactory relationships between body parts as well as between species, races, sexes, ages, diets, diseases, neighborhoods, occupations or almost any other classifications of life”.

“If you want to avoid being tracked by a dog, then the first thing to do is wear brand-new shoes or cover your old ones with untouched plastic bags, so that the fewest possible molecules from your feet are left on the ground. But, in an actual case, even if no telltale molecules from your body get left behind (something manifestly impossible) an experienced dog may be able to follow you by smelling
the freshly crushed grass or disturbed soil where you stepped, for this is the dog's specialty: he carries his nose close to the ground and the smelling part of his brain is not only disproportionately large but specialized to detect tiny traces of substances such as aliphatic acids in sweat that seep through shoes and diffuse steadily outward in air. In fact smell to him is a little like sound to a bat, giving him a degree of what we seeing-creatures call visualization.”


“The rattler, for one, has at least four "words" in his smell vocabulary. Besides his ambush scent of cucumber, he switches to a terrifying effluvium when in combat, exudes a socially somnific savor at hibernation time and wafts a love perfume when looking for a mate.”

Besides all these the best way to convey smell is to something that smells like that


Here I am reproducing words connected with smell, especially adjective from my

Reverse Dictionary of Adjectives

ABBREVIATIONS USED:

1) UTI – Used to indicate:

This I have arrived at after working for days together to find out a single suitable simple expression to explain or define adjectives and doing away with several introductory words/phrases used by dictionaries in defining adjectives, a comprehensive list of 37 such words and phrases like ‘able to ,apt to, capable of, pertaining to,’ etc are well compiled and mentioned by SIDNEY I LANDOU in the book ‘Dictionaries: The art and craft of lexicography.’

2) 
N-for indicating all negations be it a noun bearing prefixes –non, -in, etc or suffix –less, or for referring to contrary of an action or condition.

3) 
V-for indicating all intensities to avoid use of all the following terms such as :very, too, excessive, enormous etc either before and/ or after the noun or verb.

4) 
F-for indicating any fear or phobia.

5) 
S-for indicating any science, study, technique, art etc.

6) 
L-for indicating all likeness and avoid use of words like similar, shaped, like , form etc.

The four columns below indicate





                  Reverse Dictionary of Adjectives

Keyword                                     Connective   ADJECTIVE                                  Meaning
                                                        word

SMELL
SMELLABLE
PERCEIVING ODOUR THROUGH THE NOSE
SMELL
BAD
FETID
UTI ABAD SMELL
SMELL
GOOD
FRAGRANT
UTI PLEASANT SMELL
SMELL ESP BAD SMELL EMANATING FROM OUTH
HALITOTIC
BAD SMELL FROM MOUTH
SMELL BAD
REEKY
UTI BAD SMELL
SMELL BAD
RANCID
UTI BAD SMELL/TASTE
SMELL ESP BAD ONE
SMELLY
STH EMITTING BAD SMELL
SMELL ESP BOD BODY SMELL(F)
BROMIDROSIPHOBIC
FEAR OF BAD BODY SMELL
SMELL ESP GOOD SMELL PRODUCING
ODORIFEROUS/ODOROUS
STH THAT PRODUCES GOOD SMELL
SMELL ESP NOXIOUS/POISONOUS
MEPHITIC
STH NOXIOUS/POISONOUS TO SMELL
SMELL ESP SENSE OF SMELL
OLFACTORY
SENSE OF SMELL
SMELL ESP SENSE OF SMELL(S)
OLFACTOLOGICAL
SCIENCE OF SENSE OF SMELL
SMELL ESP SENSE OF SMELL(V)
HYPEROSMIC
ABNORMAL SHARPNESS OF SENSE OF SMELL
SMELL ESP SWEET SMELLING
AROMATIC
STH SWEET SMELLING
SMELL GOOD
REDOLENT
UTI PLEASANT SMELL
SMELL OF GARLIC/ONION
ALLIACEOUS
SMELL OF GARLIC/ONION
SMELL OF MUSK
MOSCHATE/MOSCHINE
STH HAVING MUSK LIKE ODOUR
SMELL OF OLD FOOD/CLOSED ROOM ETC
MUSTY
ODOUR OF LONG CLOSED ROOM/OLD FOOD
SMELL OFAN ANIMAL
CAPRYLIC
ODOUR OF AN ANIMAL
SMELL SENSATION(N)
ANOSMIC
ABSENCE OF SENSE OF SMELL
SMELL THAT IS
PLEASANT
PERFUMY
STH THAT HAS PLEASANT SMELL
SMELL THAT IS
PLEASANT
PERFUMY
STH THAT HAS PLEASANT SMELL
SMELL THAT IS BAD/FOUL
STINKING/STINKY
STHFOUL-SMELLING
SMELL(N)
ANOSMATIC
LOSS OF SENSE OF SMELL
SMELL(N)
INODOROUS
SMELL(N)
SMELL(N)
ODORLESS
ABSENCE OF GOOD SMELL
SMELL(N)ESP PLEASANT ONE
SCENTLESS
STH WITHOUT A PLEASANT SMELL
SMELL(V)
OXYRHINE/RHYNOUS
SHARP NOSE/SHARP SCENTEDNESS
SMELL,ESP SENSE OF SMELL
OSPHRETIC
SENSE OF SMELL
SMELL,STH THAT CAUSES
TUMEFACIENT
CAUSING SMELL
SMELL/ODOR PERCEPTION
OSMATIC
PERCEIVING SMELLS/ODORS
SMELLING
REDOLENT
SMELLING/SMACKING OF
SMELLING ESP GOOD
DEODRANT
STH GOOD SMELLING
SMELLING SENSATION DISORDERS(S)
OSMONOSOLOGICAL
STUDY OF DISORDEWRS OF SENSE OF SMELL
SMELLING SENSE THAT IS SHARP/ACUTE
OXYOSPHRESIC
SHARP SENSE OF SMELL
SMELLS ESP STRANGE ONES AND
DESIRE FOR THEM
PAROSMIC
DESIRE FOR STRANGE SMELLS
SMELLS(F)
OSMOPHOBIC
FEAR OF SMELLS
SMELLS(S)
OSMOLOGIC
STUDY OF SMELLS
SMELLS,ESP GREAT LOVE OF/FONDNESS FOR THEM
OSPHRESIOPHIBIC
GREAT FONDNESS/LOVE FOR SMELLS/ORORS
SMELLS/ODORS HATRED
OSPHRESIOPHOBIC
HATRED OF SMELLS/ODORS






All these can be found in this link

Or this


On a lighter vein if one were to coin a word for every smell perceptible to humans, and worse still all the distinct smells that are said to be perceptible to dogs, then, the dictionary of smell may even exceed in number of volumes than Oxford English Dictionary.

While writing about smell I cannot resist remembering Lawrence Durrell who connects and remembers most things with the smell.