Suryanamaskars

I was taught Suryanamaskars when I was a kid. I never liked it. I was told that doing it regularly is beneficial in the long term, but I never understood what long term is. But I did start practicing it (6 reps each day) since around 3-4 years back and have now appreciated its significance. No joint/back/neck pain whatsoever. Now I've ramped it up to 12 reps (as it should be classically!) and am feeling the effect. The entire body feels toned.

I feel one of the main reasons people start exercise and discontinue it soon is because they have to go out of their schedule or routine to accommodate it. Like going to a gym to do exercise is taking time out and traveling. This hampers the routine and results in discontinuity. So it is really important to merge the exercise routine in your daily chores. Its very easy to do it with Suryanamaskars. 12 Suryanamaskars take not more than 10 minutes and can be done just before or after you take a bath on bare flooring.

Post-91 !!

Today we accidentally visited a new restaurant in Koregaon Park called "Post-91".  Accidentally because we turned a wrong lane for the one we planned to go to.  But since Post-91 beckoned, we went in.  As I went in I was intrigued by the name "Post-91".  Why would someone name a restaurant like that?  Has it got to do something with 9/11?  If so, where is the other "1"?  A friend pointed out that an inside page of the menu-card explained the meaning.  The menu-card revealed that "Post-91" really meant post-1991: The period after India embraced liberalization.  The period after she put an end to archaic and absurd ideologies.  The restaurant wanted to celebrate the period following liberalization: resulting in India's unprecedented economic growth over continuous years.   What a novel way to think!  Pune must be the city with the largest restaurant density anywhere in the world.  But if such "thinkers" are behind these restaurants then what the hell?  Lets have more!

Einstein's God

I was totally impressed by Deepak Chopra's piece on Secular Spirituality (what a term!) based on Albert Einstein's pursuit of God. He wrote a 5-part series on the topic which is posted on Intentblog I've compiled in one place. Definitely worth your time.

Recently, a book caught my eye during a visit to Crossword and that was Dawkin's "The God Delusion". Here is Deepak's reaction to that. Enjoy!

Vote for Taj 'scam'

As Shobha De rightly points out the "Vote for Taj" 'scam' (New Seven Wonders of the World fame) benefited only 2 people: The foreign entrepreneur who thought of the idea to dupe the gullible and Bipasha Basu who shot to international fame with her pub antics with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Great Cartoon Strip

I hit upon this strip by chance two years back. I wanted to read a comic strip and went to a generic website hosting many. I just opened the drop down list and selected one at random. It turned out to be Pearl Before Swine (PBS)। I read it and found it raw but comic. I decided to explore its kind of humour further. So I read the previous day's strip. Then the day previous to it and went on till the beginning of that month. Subscribed for its email delivery and have been getting it since. It goes from dumb to hilarious or hilariously dumb to painfully hilarious! It takes on politics, current affairs, fashion, trends through its animal characters: Rat, pig, zebra (zeeba!), the crocs, guard duck and many more! Lawyer turned cartoonist Stephen Pastis! I take a bow!

मेरा पहला हिंदी पोस्ट

यह कया हो रहा है ?? गुगल सचमुच जबर्दस्त है !! ट्रांस्लितेरेशन का जवाब नहीं! वाह!
मायक्रोसोफ्त्त और याहू! का बज्ज गया बैंड !!!

Hindi Blogging

Brainstorming is a process carried out to explore a multitude of ideas for tackling a problem and choosing the best solution from those.  What if all ideas germinating from a brainstorming session are implemented.  Who would do that?  Of course Google!  I am not positive on this, but looking at this Hindi transliteration feature enabled on Blogger I'm compelled to believe so!  Too good.  No wonder Microsoft is buying Yahoo to tackle the mammoth Google!

Sudha Murthy Style

"Amma what is your duty?" is her daughter question that stirred Sudha Murthy into being a philanthropist. Wife of the billionaire Infosys founder (I don't think this is an apt introduction for her), Sudha Murthy is the most unidentifiable billionaire-wife. As these two articles from Pune Newsline and Pune Times highlight this woman of substance, its really such people that redefine power. Anyone but Oscar Schindler might disagree!

Clad in a simple saree, wearing glass bangles, a crescent shaped bindi and a modest jhola/bag hanging over her shoulder is how she would mostly be seen. Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar (for those who don't know they are among the few Marathi film-makers making sensible stuff) have now made a 50-minute documentary of how she, during her childhood, taught her grandmother to read. They are following this up with episodes based on Sudha Murthy's books. Yes she writes too!