1394- Quote, unquote!

"Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing!"
-Lichtenberg G.C
 ***

"If we practice the three 'D's- 'DISCIPLINE', 'DEDICATION' and 'DETERMINATION', then we automatically attain the fourth 'D'- 'DEVELOPMENT'!
- Balachandar (Cine director)

 ***

"Just because you are upset or fail a few times doesn’t mean you should change everything. Many problems are temporary. You don’t need permanent solutions (like death) to overcome them."

***

"Running is better than being in relationship. It fills a void in your life and only takes away your weight"

- Neha Dhupia (Hindi actor)

 

 ________________________________

1393-Bio-fuel from- 'Calophyllum inophyllum'

(via The Hindu, 27.03.2014--an extract)
____________________________

 At a time when farmers in Tamil Nadu are facing a big problem in cultivation due to frequent load shedding, a farmer, Mr. C. Rajasekaran, from Vettaikaran Irruppu of Kilvelur taluk in Nagappattinam district does not seem to worry much.

The reason is not far to seek — he is using oil from Punnai (Tamil name) tree seeds (Calophyllum inophyllum) to operate his five hp motor pump for irrigating his five acres.

Well known:
“If a farmer has two punnai trees on his land, he can reduce the diesel cost considerably. I run the motor for about five months using the oil during summer,” he says.

The tree grows well in coastal regions. Cattle or goats do not eat the leaves thus making it easier for a farmer to grow it.

Capable of growing in any type of soil it can withstand heavy winds and produce seeds within five years after planting.

“A farmer can get four to 20 kg of seeds a year from a five year old tree. After 10 years, a tree will yield 10 - 60 kg in a year and the seed yield will be on the increase as the trees grow older. From my experience, a 25 year-old tree yields a minimum of 300 kg and a maximum of 500 kg of seeds,” says Mr. Rajasekaran.

The trees attract lot of honey bees and bats. While the bees help to pollinate the bats eat the fruits and the seeds scatter all over the area through their droppings.

Oil:
From one kg of seed kernel about 750 to 800 ml of oil can be extracted and the cost of producing a litre of oil works out to Rs.10.

my requirement is 600 ml of oil for an hour every day. Previously while using diesel my requirement was 900 ml for the same duration of time.
In a year I am able to get 75 litres. The surplus oil is sold to other farmers at Rs. 42 a litre. After extracting the oil, the cake is used as manure for crops,” he explains.

No problem:
There is no rust formation in the engine and it emits little noise during operation. For the last four years he has been using this oil to run his motor and till date seems to have not faced any problem with the engine.

“I find there is no remarkable difference between a punnai oil and diesel run five Hp motor engine. Both pump 750ml of water in a minute. In fact the engine running on the oil emits less smoke unlike the diesel operated one,” he says.

Benefits:
“If done, in two years or at most in another 10 years we might not face the same power problem we are facing now if all our farmers become aware about this tree he says,” with a smile.

For more details:
Interested farmers can contact Mr. C. Rajasekaran, Kandaiyankaadu village, Vettaikaaranirruppu Panchayat, Kivalur Taluk, Nagappattinam District, Mobile: 097510 02370.
__________________________________

1392- Transformation/ refinement (Samskara):-

_______________________________
"No object can be enjoyed without undergoing the process of transformation and refinement (Samskara). Take the example of paddy. The paddy that is grown and harvested in the field cannot be consumed as such. It has to be converted into rice through the process of winnowing and thrashing. Once the process is complete, the value of the original paddy increases significantly. The process of transformation makes the object more useful and valuable. The utility value of cotton when spun and transformed into cloth is significantly higher, thanks to the transformation process. Take the example of gold. Again, there is a significant increase in its value when it is transformed to the shiny yellow metal, from its original form in the gold mine. Such being the case, how much more necessary it is for the human being to be transformed?"
________________________________

(Divine Discourse, “My Dear Students”, Vol 2, Ch 8, June 15, 1989)
-Sri Sathya Sai Baba
________________________________

1391- Letting Go!

________________________________

1390- A collection of thoughts on discovering "Binaca Geetmala" listings on the web:

BARDWAJ RANGAN 
(The Hindu, Metroplus,29.03.2014)
_________________________

...Nostalgia tugging at me, that brought about this post.

...the show was on, from 1953 (top song: ‘Yeh Zindagi Usi Ki Hai’) to 1993 (top song: ‘Choli Ke Peechhe’)? Take those two numbers as bookends of an era, and you have a sociological treatise right there.

There’s something about listening to songs on the radio, with no visuals to “corrupt” the music. It’s music as music should be heard. There’s a reason that that Al Stewart song went ‘You’re On My Mind, Like A Song On The Radio...’ The inability to control what’s being played...

The show wasn’t about the quality of the music, which is a pretty personal thing in any case. My meat, your poison, et cetera. This was about popularity, which can be measured far more objectively. As the site says, the yearly lists were compiled on the basis of record sales (records — remember them?), listener votes, the verdicts of record store owners, and so forth. So I can insist all I want that, from 1970, ‘Na Koi Umang Hai’ (Kati Patang) or ‘Mai Ri’ (Dastak) are far better songs than the Binaca Geetmala topper, ‘Bindiya Chamkegi’ (Do Raaste) — but the people have had their say, the music industry’s answer to the box-office has spoken. You cannot argue with cold numbers.

Still, it’s hard not to wince on seeing that, in 1971, ‘Chal Chal Chal Mere Haathi’ (Haathi Mere Saathi) occupied the slot above ‘Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli’ (Anand)...

...You can string together the words of the top 5 hits of 1973 and make a song that sounds kinda naughty and sad at the same time: ‘Yaari Hai Imaan Mera Yaar...’ ‘Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein...’ ‘Do Bechaare Bina Sahaare...’ ‘Meri Bheegi Bheegi Si Palkon Pe...’ ‘Samjhauta Ghamon Se Kar Lo’.

...I’m looking at the 1974 list and wondering if any other music director had the success and the longevity of SD Burman — in the sense of big banners, big-name directors, hit films, and (still-popular) hit songs, from the 1940s till the mid-1970s. A year before he died, he had ‘Yeh Laal Rang’, ‘Meet Na Mila Re Man Ka’ and ‘Saala Main To Sahib Ban Gaya’ on the charts.

I’m looking at Song No. 19 from 1975 — ‘My Heart Is Beating’, from Julie — and thinking how cool this song must have sounded to college kids back then, as they swept the streets with their bell-bottoms.

And just as you’re congratulating yourself on your superior taste and issuing pitiful looks at listeners from long ago for picking songs on the sole criterion of being easily hummable, you’ll get a splash of cold water — courtesy No. 32 of 1976, ‘Koi Aaya Aane Bhi De’, from Kala Sona. This is one of those acrobatic RD Burman-Asha Bhosle collaborations (with overlapping voices yet) that, if plotted on a stock market graph, would suggest a crash and a boom every other second. Perhaps the listener votes came from memories of Helen and Parveen Babi gyrating in Egyptian costumes, with bejewelled belly buttons, which were all the rage then.

I was so pleased to see that the top number of 1978 was the title song of Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se. One, it’s a sweet, sweet melody; proof that all you need, really, is a good tune and a tabla. Two, it’s by Ravindra Jain, who had a lovely little run in the 1970s. It’s nice to see him up there.

The 1980 list is topped by a song that I hate, hate, hate: ‘Dafli Waale Dafli Baja’. It’s amazing how you haven’t heard a song in years, maybe decades, but when you see it listed, the tune comes back to you as if you heard it yesterday. I’m talking about ‘Kaali Ghata Chhaayi Prem Rut Aayi’, the Number 34 of 1980.
__________________________________

1389- Just Watch That Watchword!

(TOI-29:03:2014) 

(extracts)
________________________
With elections looming on the horizon, the air is thick with party slogans. But like misguided missiles such verbal rocketry can, and often does, veer off course and boomerang on those who designed it with the aim of targeting voters.

The chant of ‘Har, har, Modi’, was composed by the supporters of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in Varanasi.Its political opponents grabbed the opportunity to lampoon the BJP line and morph it to ‘Haar, haar Modi’ (‘Lose, lose Modi’).

When Lalu Prasad came out from behind bars – where he’d been put due to the fodder scam –Whereupon the opposition came up with the cautionary rhyme based on the RJD symbol of the Lantern: ‘Phoot gaya Laltain, beh gaya tel, bak-bak mat karo, phir jaoge jail’ (‘The Lantern is broken, the oil is spilt, don’t talk too much, you’ll go back to jail’).

While an acolyte of Indira Gandhi coined the triumphal accolade of ‘India is Indira, and Indira is India‘, her son and successor was less fortunate.His speech, in less than accomplished Hindi, in which he exhorted his audience to turn the country into a manufacturing hub where ‘hum koh yeh bhi banana hai, aur woh bhi banana hai’ (‘We have to make this, as well as make that’), prompted the conjecture whether he was trying to turn India into a ‘banana republic’.

The Congress slogan ‘Haath par chhaap doh’, ‘Put your stamp on the Hand’, might well have lost the party the elections in 1989 when some voters obligingly put their stamp of approval on their own hands in polling booths, instead of on the Hand symbol on the ballot paper. As the old saying almost goes, a vote in the hand is worth zero in the ballot box.
__________________________________

1388-Do you wanna see magic..?

____________________

Once a DOCTOR and an ENGINEER entered a chocolate store...

As they were busy looking around, Engineer stole 3 chocolate bars...

As they left the store, Engineer said to Doctor : "Man! I'm the best thief ever, I stole 3 chocolates and no one saw me. You can't beat that"

Doctor replied: "You wanna see something better? Let's go back to the shop and I'll show you real stealing"

So they went to the counter and Doctor said to the Shop boy: "Do you wanna see magic..?"

The Shop boy replied: "Yes..!!!"
Doctor said: "Give me one chocolate bar!"

The shop boy gave him one, and he ate it... He asked for the second, and he ate that as well.. He asked for the third, and finished that one too...

The shop boy asked: "But where's the magic..?"

Doctor replied: "Check in my friend's pocket, and you'll find them..!!!"
(via Useful info)
______________________________

1387- A SHIELD!

______________________________________

1386- RUNNING

"Running is better than being in relationship. It fills a void in your life and only takes away your weight"

- Neha Dhupia (Hindi actor)
 

1385- I'm Joking

_____________________________

1384- Samskaras

The entire visible universe is a cosmic university. 

At birth, people are akin to animals. Then, parents teach the child how to develop its human faculties. If parents do not undertake this task adequately, the child will remain an animal. 

The great sages and saints felt that it was not enough to develop the human qualities alone, and therefore envisaged a system of Cultural Training (Samskaras) for the spiritual development of the child. 

What is Samskara? It is systems of practice by which the bad tendencies in a human being are got rid of and good tendencies are inculcated. They are intended to transform the outward looking tendency (Pravritti) into inward looking tendency (Nivritti). Samskaras also assist in developing human qualities and eliminating all remnants of animal nature in human beings. 

 

(Divine Discourse, “My Dear Students”, Vol 2, Ch 8, June 15, 1989)
- Sri Sathya Sai Baba

_______________________________________________

1383- Problems & Solutions!

"Just because you are upset or fail a few times doesn’t mean you should change everything. Many problems are temporary. You don’t need permanent solutions to overcome them."

 

__________________

1382- అహం

అహం అనేది మన నీడ వంటిదే... 

అది వాస్తవమైనది కాదు... 

అయినా అది అంత సులభంగా వదలదు.
-జగ్గీ వాసుదేవ్ (అధ్యాత్మిక గురువు)

________________________________

1381- Golden Rules for Living

______________________________________