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	<title>SAST Wingees &#187; Reviews</title>
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	<description>Knowledge is Scrumptious</description>
	<pubDate>Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:09:14 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Do bridges matter anymore?</title>
		<link>http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/10/01/do-bridges-matter-anymore/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/10/01/do-bridges-matter-anymore/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:30:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Abdul Fakhri</dc:creator>
		
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		<description><![CDATA[(On the occasion of Gandhi&#8217;s birth anniversary, I dedicate this post to the memory of late Rajnarayan Chandavarkar among the finest sons and historians of India. Raj was based at Cambridge, England.)
“We can help make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this [...]<script type="text/javascript">SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Do bridges matter anymore?", url: "http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/10/01/do-bridges-matter-anymore/" });</script>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;">(On the occasion of Gandhi&#8217;s birth anniversary, I dedicate this post to the memory of late <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajnarayan_Chandavarkar">Rajnarayan Chandavarkar</a> among the finest sons and historians of India. Raj was based at Cambridge, England.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="small;"><span style="Calibri;"><em>“We can help make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal”</em> – John F. Kennedy </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="small;"><span style="Calibri;">I have a fetish for bridges! I have been puzzled by it myself: whether its those small structures across our very own </span><span style="Calibri;">Cooum , the Thiru.Vi. Ka bridge across Adyar or the Napier Bridge near the Madras University or the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howrah_Bridge">Howrah Bridge in Kolkata</a> or the Laxman Jhula in<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishikesh"> Rishikesh </a>or the Blackfriars bridge across the Thames or the San Franscisco Golden Gate. Recall the movie the ‘<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bridge-River-Kwai-William-Holden/dp/B00004XPPC/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=dvd&amp;qid=1222918701&amp;sr=8-1">Bridge over the River Kwai</a>’ or the TV ad zooming in on the magnificient Tower Bridge of London?! Bridges have me all excited and thrilled. For a long-time I thought this was a fascination promoted by TV and Cinema. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="Calibri;">Until I came across this book by Ivo Andric titled the “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Drina-Phoenix-Fiction/dp/0226020452/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1222917997&amp;sr=8-1"><em>Bridge over the Drina</em></a>” It is a fantastic book and clearly ranks as one of the greatest pieces of world literature. Over a period of 300 years, the destiny of the town and the individuals and communities living near the river Drina get inextricably interwoven with the history of the bridge. The bridge becomes a metaphor for the life around it. Andric’s masterpiece documents the unities and challenges between ethnicities and faiths, Bosnians, Serbs, Jews, Muslim and Christians and their relationship with the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. The bridge is a silent witness to the history of Europe over centuries.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="Calibri;">Cut to the chase. I turn to the contemporary developments across the world including our country. It seems as if some storms are causing bridges to break down and the chasms widening. There seems to be a growing passion for hate! Horror of horrors. Why would anyone want to have a passion for hate? <span style="AR-SA;">Nicholas Fraser in his book ‘<em>The Voice of Modern Hatred’</em> sets out the contours of this problem in Europe. This is truly a global problem. Hate is like a &#8216;malignant tumour&#8217;. Young innocent minds have been poisoned to dislike entire cultures through the sustenance of stereotypes. This is because </span></span><span style="Calibri;">increasingly one can notice a gross distortion in the way entire cultures, communities and identities are being represented especially in the electronic media mainly because of the violence of terrorists. There are other kinds of institutions and organizations too that indulge in violence but that is a separate subject.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="Calibri;">I find myself very concerned with the manner in which society and media creates ideas and images of groups of people and their impact. These images to cite a few often take the form of ‘Muslims’ versus ‘Hindus’, ‘Maharashtrians’ versus ‘north Indians’, ‘Hindus’ versus ‘Christian’, ‘Dalits’ versus ‘upper-castes’, ‘Sunni’ versus ‘Shiah’ , &#8216;Sinhala&#8217; versus &#8216;Tamil&#8217; and ‘Christianity’ versus ‘Islam.’ The stereotypes and caricatures of ‘us’ and ‘them’ seem to be on the increase. The blame game as to who is responsible for what mess goes on endlessly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="Calibri;">In this madness, where are innocent, peace-loving people to go? Whom can they turn to for solace? Most sober people have adopted the posture of “Forgive them, O’Lord for they know not what they do!” The less said about the political class the better. Of course, there are always exceptions among them. What about the intellectuals? We are reminded of the ‘Prophet of Gloom’ in the form of Samuel P. Huntington who is (in)famous for his theory of the ‘clash of civilizations.’  His theory of clashes found its practitioners in the person of those hawks who promoted the invasion of Iraq and the ‘war-on-terror’ with all its attendant disastrous consequences. Such hawks made the world a more dangerous place. As for me, I draw solace from my favourite subject ‘history’ which would indeed judge these hawks and their global disciples very unkindly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="Calibri;">History is a great teacher. The problem with us is that we are poor students of this subject. The common refrain is that our teachers made this subject boring for us. Alas, if life were to accept such excuses, then everything would be a cakewalk.<span style="yes;"> </span>We would have often heard that those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. I would like to add repeat it at a huge cost to themselves and everybody. I wonder why anybody in their right mind would want to incur these costs. My friends and colleagues often ask me ‘what is the solution to all this? I wonder when an individual falls mentally ill, we escort him/her to a shrink. When a whole society falls sick, what do we do? Which physician knows how to treat ‘collective schizophrenia’? As I write this, there has been terrorist violence in Delhi and attacks on Christians in Orissa and Karnataka.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="Calibri;">We are now faced with an epidemic of hate of sorts. Those who believe in religion say that these are signs that the world is coming to an end. Yet others attribute the problem to primordial sentiments and say that it has always been that way and will continue to remain that way. I refuse to buy any of these arguments. I firmly believe that human beings are capable of acting in their self and collective interest in a positive and enlightened manner.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="Calibri;">There is still hope for and in reason. I believe that rationality can still play a role in the face of the madness of hate. I believe that millions of people are puppets on a string, or pawns in a chessboard or gullible creatures following the pied piper. It is the ability of &#8216;vested interests&#8217; (the list is long depending on the context)  to elicit consent from the people to their being manipulated. There is adequate proof in historical studies that masses get easily and unknowingly misled through a set of motives different from what is in their interest. And that is indeed what is happening in this world. If there was no perception of threat to each other’s community, several politicians would be called upon to deliver on issues of bread and butter which are far more difficult than pitting one group against the other. This is true of the East and West, North and South, whether its of India or the rest of the Globe. Distraction by peddling hate is a favourite form of politics for those who are desperate for power. We have all seen in contemporary politics, the love for power. We need to show ourselves the power of love!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="Calibri;">Now that the picture is clear, what can individuals do? To start with, we can borrow Nancy Reagan&#8217;s famous slogan &#8220;Just Say No&#8221; to hate. To prejudice. To disunity. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="Calibri;">We can then build bridges. Bridges of Love. We can all do it small ways.  Begin with our neighbours and colleagues – do we in the first place know who they are? Do they have families and children like ours? Take an active interest in their well-being. Move beyond that to the residential area or the street or the locality in which we live. Can we build bonds of trust and oneness? As Kennedy rightly argues are we not all faced with the same challenges? We wake up, go to work, fend for our families, return take care of our near and dear ones. We all have children about whose welfare we are worried about. We all have elders who in the sunset of their lives need our company as much as we need their blessings and counsel. There are plenty of interstices and intersections where these bridges can be built. We just have to think creatively about it. <span style="Calibri;">Festivals, Ceremonies, Family occasions, Music, Movies and so much more are unexplored arenas of building a sense of togetherness among individuals and communities. Can the effort of an individual in this matter? Certainly. Drops make the ocean. Its better to light a candle than to curse the darkness!</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="Calibri;">The challenge before us is to build bridges -across time and space; across castes, communities, religions, races, languages and not to miss gender. We need these bridges badly. There will always be naysayers. The villains. The troublemakers. Is it not noteworthy that during war, bridges are the first structures to be destroyed to prevent the movement of people and supplies? To those who believe in a God, (s)he made us such: different from each other. Varied and Diverse. Tomes have also been written on the ‘unity of existence’ that brings together all these differences. There is no religion that by itself preaches hate - that religions can be used to create tensions is a different matter. I believe that the ties that bind people with one another are sacred. Let no one undo those bonds of togetherness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="justify;"><span style="Calibri;">It is the bridges that connect us all. I for one am a die-hard romantic. Its high time that all peace-loving people resisted the stereotypes promoted by the media and thought beyond them.<span style="yes;"> </span>I raise a toast to several friends, colleagues and the ‘common man’ who have rejected these caricatures. I was brought up on the staple of ‘Enlightenment’ with the firm belief of a ‘common humanity.’ I believe friendship and love will prevail. I think we need to take ‘bridge-building’ more seriously than ever before. We have to work at it. </span></p>
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		<title>Fellini&#8217;s Ghost, Save Me!</title>
		<link>http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/07/20/fellinis-ghost-save-me/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/07/20/fellinis-ghost-save-me/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:43:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Priya Raju</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[General Interest]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>

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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sastwingees.org/?p=547</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m a movie fiend. When I watch a movie, I very thirstily &#38; feverishly deconstruct its building blocks - Casting, Screen Play, Background Score, Dialog Delivery, Costumes et al. I&#8217;m passionately in love with movies. When I was a kid, I yearned to make movies. I used to stand before a mirror &#38; emote, observing [...]<script type="text/javascript">SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Fellini&#8217;s Ghost, Save Me!", url: "http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/07/20/fellinis-ghost-save-me/" });</script>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m a movie fiend. When I watch a movie, I very thirstily &amp; feverishly deconstruct its building blocks - Casting, Screen Play, Background Score, Dialog Delivery, Costumes et al. I&#8217;m passionately in love with movies. When I was a kid, I yearned to make movies. I used to stand before a mirror &amp; emote, observing what angles worked &amp; what didn&#8217;t. I would sit behind the clump of Frangipani trees in the yard &amp; clinically dissect passers-by. Their body language, diction, their clothes. In retrospect, I must have unnerved &amp; freaked people out with my pitiless ogling.</p>
<p>I never entered Show Business. Instead, I became a Software Engineer. I&#8217;m not exactly heart-broken, because I&#8217;m a philanderer: Film Making is only 1 of my many loves. In turn, I&#8217;ve desperately wanted to be an Architect. Cryptographer. Musician. Physicist. Writer. Chef. Astronaut. And curiously enough, Fighter Pilot. In my first year in the Engineering school, I fell inexorably in love with Computers - it had me from &#8220;Hello World&#8221;.</p>
<p>Those who can&#8217;t make movies, watch them. I sate myself by reading about the craft &amp; by devouring truckloads of movies. A good movie is a story on an acid trip - Vivid images hitherto unseen carve themselves on the brains of the viewers, like a hallucination. A bad movie is like a wet dog - it stinks, its messy, it can be shaken off easily &amp; it never makes a lasting impression. I&#8217;m very particular about the kind of movies I watch - After all, you devote 2 to 3 hours of your time to watch a movie. Its an immersive medium, where you have to stay interested. I only watch movies that I think are good, whose <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com">Rotten Tomatoes</a> rating is high or whose story-line I think will hit the high notes. The rest are simply not worth my time.</p>
<p>I used to watch TCM (Turner Classic Movies) &amp; AMC (American Movie Classics) regularly when we lived in the US. In India though, good movie channels that carry Subtitles are rare. We rent videos from Cinema Paradiso, a store that has an eclectic collection. I hit the mother-lode this weekend - I laid my hands on a Sinhala movie <em>- Pavuru Valalu</em>, with English subtitles.</p>
<p><strong>Now, About<em> Pavuru Valalu</em></strong></p>
<p>Loosely translated, &#8220;The Walls Within&#8221; - is set in the 1960s Galle in Sri Lanka. It has a simple story-line - Lovers separated during WW-II meet after a gap of 25 years. The lady is married, has 2 daughters &amp; her husband has abandoned her. When the movie unwinds, the director&#8217;s sympathy for the lead pair&#8217;s predicament comes thru with lyrical perfection. Without being judgmental, the movie poignantly captures the society recoiling in horror at this state of affairs.</p>
<p>The protagonists Victor &amp; Violet are essayed admirably <em>al dente</em> by Tony Ranasinghe &amp; Nita Fernando. None of the actors spout reams of dialog - their silences, little gestures &amp; eyes convey much more than mere words could. Luckily for us, the Casting Director gave Miss Sri Lankas &amp; Mister Colombos a pass. Instead, actors have been chosen primarily for their prowess &amp; their suitability for the role. The young women in the movie have wide hips or big butts. Young men don&#8217;t flash six-pack Abs. Instead of fixating on their physique, the actors have focused on effectively conveying their turmoil thru nuanced expressions &amp; dialog delivery. It is sheer poetry in celluloid.</p>
<p>The movie will haunt me - because it is so raw, so natural. The entire movie is shot in a typical middle class dwelling, with peeling plaster &amp; green algae in the outer walls. Actors wear rumpled clothes when they are at home - not designer threads. And the women are not painted like street-walkers waiting for their Johns. Not a single actor resorts to histrionic pyro-techniques - for they know that over-acting &amp; bad-acting are synonyms.<em> </em></p>
<p><em>Pavuru Valalu</em> is a great movie - an outstanding achievement by director Prasanna Vithanage &amp; his team.</p>
<p><strong>My SOS to Fellini<br />
</strong></p>
<p>I asked for Fellini&#8217;s ghost, but Ingmar Bergman&#8217;s or Akira Kurosawa&#8217;s ghosts would do equally fine.</p>
<p>For after watching the movie, a paroxysm of rage hit me. A small country, Sri Lanka, with a population of 20 Million people is able to make a neat movie on a shoe-string budget. It makes a handful of mainstream, yet critically acclaimed movies that receive rave reviews from all corners of the world. We are a nation of 1.2 Billion yokels &amp; counting. Yet, the number of decent movies we make every year won&#8217;t run into double digits.</p>
<p>When was the last time you saw an Indian movie, where the lead pair is 50 &amp; 45 years old? We are fixated with youth. I don&#8217;t understand why. At least 50% of the people in India are 30+. Oh for movies where the theme isn&#8217;t romance, revenge, family feuds or a mix-up between 2 people who look alike. Didn&#8217;t Shakespeare do that in <em>The Comedy of Errors </em>Circa 1589 already?</p>
<p>Our movies revolve around love, love &amp; more love. Unfortunately, love-making in Indian movies involves booty shaking, heaving bosoms &amp; shirtless men panting like dogs at their women. When Violet&#8217;s daughter Lily sees her beau Ranjith - her face glows softly. We can imagine her adrenaline rush easily - Incidentally, we are not idiots &amp; we appreciate subtlety. A fact lost on most Indian film makers.  They just can&#8217;t resist a song &amp; dance sequence to show-case &#8220;tender&#8221; love at this juncture. They would have Lily &amp; Ranjith cavorting in Switzerland or New Zealand, writhing like snakes in heat.</p>
<p>When will we stop making movies with people dancing around the trees? For that matter, when will we make movies without songs? Must every single movie made in India be an escapist fantasy? Is reality so cumbersome, that we want to edit it out of our art? I&#8217;m not saying we don&#8217;t make good movies ever. We make too few good movies amid a zillion very bad ones.</p>
<p>We don&#8217;t have to make ponderous, pretentious movies where we try to show the world how bright we are. I once watched a movie by Israeli director Amos Gitai. Nuh-uh. Not my cup of tea. I was dazed, confused &amp; totally disinterested after 30 minutes. The movie opens with a guy walking from 1 end of the street to another - and they show this for 10 yawn-worthy minutes. Maybe I&#8217;m just a dummy that doesn&#8217;t understand Gitai&#8217;s art, but sproing! - the next scene has 2 nude people making violent love on a canvas full of wet paint.You call it art, I call it boooooring <img src='http://www.sastwingees.org/wordpress/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif' alt=':-|' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Bollywood AKA National Shame. Bollywood, my ass. Where there is more money than talent. Where an over-emoting Shah Rukh Khan thinks he can step into the large shoes of the talented Amitabh Bachchan. Where the much feted Aishwarya Rai - the most visible face of Indian cinema - is one of its worst actors ever. To my utter misery, she gets plum assignments that were once done with elan by the scintillating Meena Kumari &amp; the effervescent Savitri Ganesan. I lose my appetite every time that happens.</p>
<p>And the film-makers in India send 1 clunker after another for the Academy Awards &amp; wait with bated breath for an Oscar. Good grief. For all their shameless plagiarism of Hollywood, their knowledge of World Cinema is very poor.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I wait for the release of the Malayalam epic <em>Pazhassi Raja</em> later this year, from Director Hariharan. With screenplay by M.T.Vasudevan Nair, Music by Ilayaraja and with veteran actors Mammooty, Sarath Kumar, Manoj K Jayan &amp; Thilakan, it can only be good.</p>
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		<title>Crispy Dosas in the Microwave Oven</title>
		<link>http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/02/17/crispy-dosas-in-the-microwave-oven/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/02/17/crispy-dosas-in-the-microwave-oven/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:47:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sujatha</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>

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		<category><![CDATA[Dosas]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[This is a follow-up to Sukumar’s post on Why can’t you make toasted bread and crisp dosas in your microwave oven?
A week ago, I saw an ad on the television about a new microwave. Whirlpool India has introduced MagiCook 22C Grey 22Ltr Convection Microwave with a Micro Tawa option, which can make a Dosa, Pizza, Parathas [...]<script type="text/javascript">SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Crispy Dosas in the Microwave Oven", url: "http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/02/17/crispy-dosas-in-the-microwave-oven/" });</script>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is a follow-up to Sukumar’s post on <a href="http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/07/15/why-cant-you-make-toasted-bread-and-crisp-dosas-in-your-microwave-oven/" title="Why can’t you make toasted bread and crisp dosas in your microwave oven?">Why can’t you make toasted bread and crisp dosas in your microwave oven?</a></p>
<p>A week ago, I saw an ad on the television about a new microwave. Whirlpool India has introduced <a href="http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2003/11/14/stories/2003111401331703.htm">MagiCook 22C Grey 22Ltr Convection Microwave</a> with a Micro Tawa option, which can make a Dosa, Pizza, Parathas etc. This convection microwave uses Combination cooking method which combines traditional cooking(bottom up heating) with the microwave technology for shallow frying. For the CRISP mode, it is a combination of Microwave and Grill together, when the Tawa is set to a certain power level the active layer of the dish is uniformly crisped and browned to perfection thus creating the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction">Maillard Reaction</a>.</p>
<p>I started my research to understand the basic Oven and its types.</p>
<p>An <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oven">Oven</a> is an enclosed compartment used for heating,baking or drying. The earliest known ovens existing in the Indus<br />
Valley Civilization and the proper front loading ovens were used in the Ancient Greek for making breads.</p>
<p>Now let&#8217;s see what is the difference between <a href="http://www.gallawa.com/microtech/history.html">Microwave Oven</a>, <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/ck_culinary_qa/article/0,1971,FOOD_9796_1789578,00.html">Conventional Oven and Convection Oven</a>.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven">microwave oven </a>works by passing microwave radiation through the food.A conventional oven has heat radiating from a single or multiple sources and heating the internal area of an oven and cooking your food.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convection_oven">Convectional Oven</a> uses a fan and a heating element to create air flow patterns inside the oven, thus ensures optimum browning of the food in the fastest possible time, sealing the juices and prevents drying out of meats.</p>
<p>Look at the picture below, let me now tell you about a Convection Microwave.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.sastwingees.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/clip_image0011.jpg" alt="clip_image0011.jpg" /></p>
<p>Convection microwave ovens combine a convection cooking with microwave oven to cook food with the speed of a microwave oven and browning of the convection oven. Convection microwave ovens are more costly than the regular microwave ovens.</p>
<p>A convection oven will have about a 25 to 30% reduction in cooking temperature, and a 21% reduction in cooking time, compared to a conventional oven. This comparison will vary, depending on factors including, for example, how much food is being cooked at once or if airflow is being restricted by using an oversized baking tray.</p>
<p>Convection Microwaves were initially considered to be high-end kitchen appliances. They were more expensive than a conventional oven. Over time the price of convectional microwaves has dropped and can be bought for around the same price as a conventional microwave.</p>
<p>Please share your experience if you have tried it already. Does it really make good dosas and Parathas? </p>
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		<title>The Real History of India - Part 4: A new IVC Symbology for better decipherment</title>
		<link>http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/02/13/the-real-history-of-india-part-4-a-new-ivc-symbology-for-better-decipherment/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:29:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sukumar</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[General Interest]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Updated October 20, 2008: I made an incorrect guess that the unicorn is a cow. It is not a cow it is not a bull either.
Updated Feb 16, 2008: Priya Raju suggested 2 more dimensions - food and attire to the framework. I have added them below.
Prolog:
I pointed to a seal in my previous post [...]<script type="text/javascript">SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The Real History of India - Part 4: A new IVC Symbology for better decipherment", url: "http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/02/13/the-real-history-of-india-part-4-a-new-ivc-symbology-for-better-decipherment/" });</script>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Updated October 20, 2008: I made an incorrect guess that the unicorn is a cow. It is not a cow it is not a bull either.</p>
<p>Updated Feb 16, 2008: Priya Raju suggested 2 more dimensions - food and attire to the framework. I have added them below.</p>
<p><strong>Prolog:</strong></p>
<p>I pointed to a seal in my previous post with a link to Parpola&#8217;s interpretation. He interpreted the lower part brilliantly as the Seven Sisters (Sapta Kannika) which is the &#8220;Pleaides&#8221;. And I think he is also correct in that the Vernal Equinox - when the Sun enters Pleiaides - is the New Year.  He also correctly references the myth where Lord Muruga (Karthik in Bengal) was born and was tended to by the Karthikai (&#8221;Krithika&#8221; in Bengal) Penngal [Krithika Women a.k.a Pleaides].</p>
<p>But what about the tree, the god within the tree, the human worshipping the tree, the goat etc? A.L. Basham in his &#8220;The Wonder that was India&#8221; talks about women worshipping the peepul tree for fertility.  I recalled my grandmom talking about this. Therefore, the tree is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_religiosa">Peepul (Arasa Maram)</a> - look how closely the leaf&#8217;s characteristics on the seal resemble the real one in the wikipedia. The horned figure is the Mother Goddess that we worship till date in Tamilnadu for fertility. The belief is the worshipper will beget a handsome baby boy like Lord Muruga. Infertile women are asked to go around the Peepul tree on certain auspicious days and make votive cradle offerings tied to the tree to become pregnant. I believe that the small object besides the kneeling woman is the votive cradle offering [Citation Needed].  I asked for the Tamil Farmer&#8217;s Almanac (&#8221;Paambu&#8221; Panchank) from my father and figured out the exact auspicious days on which this ritual is done.</p>
<p>Why the Goat? A possible explanation is this: <a href="http://www.findyourfate.com/indianastro/nakshatra-table.htm">every star has a symbolic deity and an animal</a>. For Krithika, it is the goat. Another point to note is - in Celtic religion, sometimes infertile animals are part of the ritual. Interestingly, the animals depicted in the IVC seals are real animals with their distinctive species markings. For instance, this goat is the <a href="http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/msh038v1.pdf">Pashmina/Cashmere Goat</a> (one that gives the Cashmere wool). This is how a <a href="http://www.goatworld.com/breeds/graphics/CashMirror3.gif">modern day cashmere goat looks</a> (look at the characteristic wavy antler and look at the seal again). This just shows the powers of observation of these people.</p>
<p>The humans in this seal are all women because they have a feminine triple horn (to be covered later) and  they all wear bangles - these bangles were made of shell. To this day, in Bengal women wear Sankha Pola - shell bangles during weddings and auspicious days. You can also see the plaited hair which is another feature in the woman&#8217;s attire till date in Tamilnadu. BTW, <a href="http://www.harappa.com/goladhoro/goladhoroshellworkshop.html">Shell bangles were a key manufactured item of the IVC people</a>.</p>
<p>Please note that I am yet to attempt to decipher the script: my focus has been only on the pictures on the seals because I felt that we must first understand the symbology.</p>
<p><strong>Existing Models for IVC Decipherment: </strong></p>
<p>Currently there are 3 models per my own classification:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.harappa.com/script/letters/fish.gif" alt="" width="31" height="36" /> [source Harappa.com]</p>
<p>1. Parpola Model - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilization#Discovery_and_excavation">Sir John Marshall</a>, who discovered Harappa had hypothesized, that the language of the IVC was Proto-Dravidian. The Indus symbol above is known as the Fish. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Heras">Father Heras </a>proposed that it means &#8220;Meen&#8221; in Tamil which means &#8220;Star&#8221; since the phrase &#8220;Vinn Meen&#8221; (literally, Sky Fish) denotes &#8220;Star&#8221; even today.  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asko_Parpola">Asko Parpola</a> is the first historian to accumulate a significant corpus of decipherment of the Indus script - and he agrees that &#8220;Meen&#8221; = Star. He has <a href="http://www.harappa.com/script/parpola0.html">systematically proved that claim</a> with a lot of data. Before you jump into any conclusions about his intent, Parpola is a Sanskrit Scholar and has done a lot of work on the Vedas and Upanishads.</p>
<p>2. Vedic Model - This model attempts to fit the Vedic Symbology onto IVC and tries to prove that Sanskrit was the language spoken in the IVC. Quite obviously, the historians who propound this view - including some western historians such as David Frawley - are the darlings of the Hindutva-vadis.</p>
<p>3.  Mahadevan Model - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iravatham_Mahadevan">Iravatham Mahadevan</a> is one of the greatest Indus researchers India has produced and is the leading expert on the Brahmi script. He has also deciphered a huge number of Indus seals. Mahadevan <a href="http://www.harappa.com/script/mahadevantext.html">supports the Parpola Model</a> in that he thinks the language is Proto-Dravidian - but he adds that there is also a Vedic component. So his is a hybrid model.</p>
<p>The erstwhile &#8220;European Model&#8221; has been subsumed by these models. It is important to remember that it was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jones_%28philologist%29">Sir William Jones</a> who proved that Sanskrit is Indo European with his path-breaking comparative linguistics method and the brilliant <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Caldwell">Caldwell</a> who proved that the Dravidian languages were a separate language family distinct from Indo European.  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Mueller">Max Mueller</a> has also made some key contributions. But the Europeans introduced several errors which still affects the way we think about the IVC.</p>
<p>For the record, initially I was in the Mahadevan camp but after considerable rethinking, I am firmly in the Parpola camp.   In my review of the IVC research done so far, I have identified some major gaps which can be attributed to the lack of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbology">Symbology</a> [Thanks Dan Brown for popularizing this term].  I think a new symbology framework will help us unearth some clues which we will later use for script decipherment.</p>
<p><strong>Proposed</strong> <strong><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">8-point</span> 10-point Symbology Framework: </strong></p>
<p>1. Religion - What was their religion? Most evidence points to a non-Aryan religion, centered around a fertility/mother goddess. I believe this was not a simple fertility cult - but a dramatically different religion with an astronomical foundation. This will be covered in the next post.</p>
<p>2. Language - What language did they speak? Many languages including Sanskrit and Elamite have been proposed as candidates - ideas without definitive evidence. Parpola and Mahadevan are right in believing that the IVC inhabitants spoke Proto-Dravidian. Parpola has even applied some ideas from the Dravidian language spoken by the Gonds. If you apply the principles of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift_%28linguistics%29">language drift</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_linguistics">comparative linguistics</a> to existing Dravidian languages, it can be proven quite easily that Tamil, the Gondi and a few more Dravidian Tribal languages will be the closest to Proto-Dravidian.  Tamil is a natural choice to decrypt the IVC seals because of its richness - linguistically and culturally. Not to forget, the abundance of native Tamil speakers.</p>
<p>4. Flora and Fauna - Given that many of the IVC seals depict animals and plants in great detail, we need to understand their flora and fauna better.</p>
<p>5. Astronomy - All agrarian societies had a pretty advanced knowledge of astronomy for their time. We need to understand their core astronomical beliefs, especially since my research indicates that it was closely tied to their religion.</p>
<p>6. Economics - What means of livelihood did they have? We already know that they traded with Sumer using standard weights and measures, they had workshops that made beads, bead necklaces, shell bangles, toys and votive offerings. Agriculture  and Animal husbandry were also key components of their economy. Priya Raju made an interesting suggestion that maybe some of the seals represent the place where the goods being traded are sourced from. Definitely worth investigating, right?</p>
<p>7. Engineering/Architecture - We need to learn how they built fantastic buildings, arrived at a city plan, great bath and an advanced sewer system. What clues does their script bear in relation to this topic.</p>
<p>8. Collation Scheme - One of the most surprising aspects of the IVC seals is the small number of characters. In fact, this has led to historians like <a href="http://www.safarmer.com/fsw2.pdf">Witzel/Farmer to conclude that IVC was illiterate</a> - which I believe is highly improbable and totally ludicrous. Why are they assuming that each seal is a stand-alone? So I started thinking about it and wondered if there was a collation scheme to tie the seals together ? Mahadevan has talked about how <a href="http://www.harappa.com/seal/seal0.html">every seal had a hole at the back</a> through which a thread can be passed. And based on that he concluded that every seal was worn as a pendant around the neck. This didn&#8217;t make sense to me - till I remembered that one of the key products of the  IVC economy were beads and bead necklaces. I put these two together and I realized that they must have strung a set of seals together on a string and form longer sentences and possibly many strings could together form a chapter/book etc. No one seems to have thought of a collation scheme, so I couldn&#8217;t find any material on this. But this must be explored seriously.</p>
<p>9. Food - what food did they eat - grains, cereals, fruits, vegetables, animals. These will also have some language clues.</p>
<p>10. Attire - what did they wear - we already know that cotton was a key export item, but what kind of dresses did they wear? Are there any clues in the seals?</p>
<p><strong>Epilog:</strong></p>
<p>To illustrate the framework, let us pick the popular seal known as the unicorn:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.harappa.com/seal/graphics/1.jpg" alt="" width="267" height="260" /> [source: Harappa.com]</p>
<p>Calling this the Bull Unicorn (Bull with a single horn) is an European error - caused by their identifying it with unicorn myths from their cultures.  IVC people were extremely scientific and I doubt if they&#8217;ll represent mythical creatures on their seals - when all along, they&#8217;ve only depicted fauna native to their region as we have seen above with the goat.  <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">My interpretation is that this is a cow - specifically, the species <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebu">Bos Indicus (or the Zebu)</a> with a short or non-existent hump and horns. Look at a picture of the current <a href="http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/hariana/images/hariana-web-1.jpg">day cow from this breed</a>.<br />
</span></p>
<p>It is not a cow and is not a bull either. It is a different animal to be determined.</p>
<p>Okay, but why only one horn, then? I thought long and hard about this and finally tied this to their engineering/architecture capabilities. One of the first lessons in Engineering Graphics I learnt in college was the Plan View and Elevation View (also known as perspectives) - a system to represent 3D objects in 2D using the observer&#8217;s view point.  They must have used these techniques to create the layouts for their buildings and town plans - and they must have applied those to their seals as well.  Now, if you observe an animal on its side and profile it, you will notice only one horn.</p>
<p>In fact, this plan view and elevation view perspectives repeats itself in many seals, so i see it as a critical component of the Indus Symbology. For instance, the bangles in the peepul tree worship seal. If you use the perspectives method, you can see why they depicted the bangles the way they did.<br />
By now I am sure you appreciate the <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">8-point</span> 10-point symbology. Are there any dimensions missing? I&#8217;d love to hear your views on this.</p>
<p>Next week we cover the IVC religion in-depth. Stay tuned.</p>
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		<title>Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions</title>
		<link>http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/12/26/our-iceberg-is-melting-changing-and-succeeding-under-any-conditions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/12/26/our-iceberg-is-melting-changing-and-succeeding-under-any-conditions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Dec 2007 18:00:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ganesh Vaideeswaran</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Management]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[If you liked “Who moved my cheese”, you would probably enjoy “Our Iceberg Is Melting” as well. The author’s explain how change can be effected in an organization via the story of a group of penguins that is forced to relocate because their current iceberg of residence is melting. The story is about how a [...]<script type="text/javascript">SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions", url: "http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/12/26/our-iceberg-is-melting-changing-and-succeeding-under-any-conditions/" });</script>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you liked “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Moved_My_Cheese">Who moved my cheese</a>”, you would probably enjoy “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/031236198X/bookstorenow69-20">Our Iceberg Is Melting</a><strong><u>”</u></strong> as well. The author’s explain how change can be effected in an organization via the story of a group of penguins that is forced to relocate because their current iceberg of residence is melting. The story is about how a group of “leader” penguins determine if relocation is needed, and once the answer is determined to be a YES, form a team to come up with the plan to effect the change – which includes selling the need for the change (relocation) to larger penguin population, forming sub-teams to figure out the new location and associated logistics, motivating the teams on a constant basis to not lose focus and then aiding in the relocation. Once this is done the first time, the need to keep moving and find stable iceberg on a constant basis is enforced into the population, implying that the only thing that is constant is change itself.I did not feel that there was anything particularly eye-opening/new insights with respect to “Change Management” itself. It involves the typical –</p>
<ol>
<li>Leaders need to determine if      the particular change is actually needed. Collect and analyze appropriate data before      buying into it</li>
<li>Once you think it is needed,      form an appropriate team that can look at the facts and come up with a      plan to effect the change</li>
<li>Lead (and do not necessarily      coerce) the team to come up with the plan. Prod the teams at appropriate      times to keep them focused at the task at hand. (This can be delegated as needed).</li>
<li>Next is the important task of      selling the change to general population or team(s) affected. Change is      always tough to digest and the purpose needs to be explained in a manner      that appeals and makes sense to the population. If necessary dispose      “change agents” to specific populations to communicate the change on a      constant basis in a consistent manner.</li>
<li>Once there is buy-in from the      general population, then the change needs to be effected by appropriate      teams. All the while, the need for the change and the pain associated with      it may have to be explained/re-enforced multiple times.</li>
<li>Of course, you would have to      constantly evaluate how the plan is going and make adjustments as needed      (not mentioned in the book)</li>
<li>Finally, prepare the      population for future change(s)</li>
</ol>
<p>Of course, there will be variations to the above process depending on the organization.</p>
<p>There were 2 important lessons related to “Change Management” that was re-enforced for me from this book. It is a very tentative/shy and inquisitive but not a leader penguin that determines something is wrong in the environment they are living and that iceberg in fact could be melting. The shy penguin brings this information up to one of the leader penguins that is known to be receptive to new information and does not pooh-pooh them. Here is what I got out of it –</p>
<ol>
<li>One (and leaders in      particular) has to have their eyes and ears open to suggestions from      anyone in the organization.</li>
<li>If you feel that change is      needed and is not in a position to affect it directly, understand the      organization hierarchy, culture and personalities and use it as necessary      to percolate information/data up the management chain. Always go with data      that can be digested in an easy manner by the leaders which is easier said      that done.</li>
</ol>
<p>Ganesh</p>
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