Uniting India
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Ten Indians who deserve to be on the rupee Part-1
Dec 25th
India after Gandhi” has been so obsessed with Gandhi that we belittle everyone’s stature in front of the father of our nation. I remember in one of my favorite movies, the actor tells his friend that if they go to jail, they will be respected like Gandhi and their faces will be printed on the currency notes. Seriously, the writer of the movie needs to be reminded that no matter how much a person does, he will never be close to the “greatness” of Gandhi and will never get his face on the currency note.
In India, a person’s greatness is counted only after Gandhi. A popular Indian weekly even created an opinion poll titled “Greatest Indian after Gandhi”. Really! Is nobody even equal to Gandhi?.
I am not, in any way, undermining the greatness of Gandhi ji. I just want say that India has been blessed by many great people who deserve equal respect and stature. These people are equally patriotic as Gandhi. Only thing I am saying that they should be remembered and revered as Gandhi and their faces should also appear on the currency notes.
Swami Vivekananda:
Swami Vivekananda is the legendary spiritual personality who brought international limelight to the glory More >
Lasting Memories
Dec 18th
Everyone of us must be having some kind of lasting memories. I also have some wonderful memories. Here are a few.
On 3rd October 2012, I signed a cheque for Rs 20,000.00 for withdrawing from my savings account from the ECIL branch of Bank of Maharashtra, Hyderabad. The cashier Mr.D.T.Sugander gave me Rs 10,000.00 in other denominations and wanted to give the balance in 10 notes of RS 1000.00 each. But I left the Bank in a hurry thinking that I withdrew only Rs 10000.00. I forgot about it the entire day. My wife discussed with me about the money withdrawn the next day converting into a heated discussion. Then I recollected that I brought home only Rs10,000.00 though I signed the cheque for double the amount. Immediately I contacted the Assistant Branch Manager Mr.Sarma and requested him to ask his cashier about the same. He in turn asked the cashier, who told him to tell me to come to the Bank and collect the amount. I can’t express in words how much happy I felt at that point of time. I rushed to the Bank and received the balance amount. I thanked Mr.D.T.Sugander profusely and offered Rs 500.00 as a More >
Humour in Our Lives
Dec 12th
Humour, especially subtle humour, plays a very important role in our lives like a tonic. Our lives become routine, robotic, dull and boring without humour. Here are two funny incidents, which happened in my life long long back.
I used to take active interest in a library in Mirjala guda, Secunderabad during my school days. One day I was sitting in the office of the library. A member asked me ” Secretary”. I was rather embarrassed and responded immediately by telling her that I was not the Secretary. Actually she wanted to take the Telugu book titled ” Secretary” written by the then popular female writer Yaddanapudi Sulochana Rani.
The second funny incident happened in 1976 at the time of my job interview in the headquarters of Maharashtra State Electricity Board. I waited for my chance to be called and waited for some time. People were coming and going and none was calling me. Finally I asked the attendant or peon as to why I was not called. He enquired me about my name. I told him that my name was Sivaram. He told me to give the full name. I told him my full name. He told me that he already called More >
Vegetarianism and Islam
Jul 25th
The option to be vegetarian has always existed in Islam, whether or not it was actualized at any time or place. The great Sufi Râbi‘ah al-‘Adawîyah of Basrah was an early Muslim vegetarian. In recent times, the renowned Sufi shaykh Bawa Muhaiyaddeen was a notable vegetarian Muslim. Nowadays there are more and more Muslims in different countries choosing to be vegetarian, although they have mostly kept quiet about it.
Haram Vs Halal:Sometimes we get negative, hostile, indignant, or incredulous reactions from other Muslims who have never considered the possibility. One common line of attack goes, “You can’t make harâm what Allah has made halâl! That is a sin!” Excuse me, but who ever said anything about making anything harâm? Why even bring that issue into it? Why do they have to think of everything in life in terms of force and compulsion and forbidding? In Islamic law there are more categories than just obligatory and harâm. There are various shadings of desirable and undesirable, and in the middle there is the neutral (al-mubâh). The choice of what halâl food to eat is a neutral one—it doesn’t have any direct bearing on what is forbidden or obligatory. I’m not making meat “harâm.” More >
Hyderabad – A Traffic Jungle of Madness
Jun 20th
Hyderabad, Capital of Andhra Pradesh is a nightmare for pedestrians. The city doesn’t seem to have any traffic rules. There is no respect for pedestrians. We come across utter chaos on the roads. The pedestrians are left to the mercy of God. It’s extremely difficult to locate traffic signals and zebra crossing. One needs a crane to lift the person so as to enable him to cross the road.
No Traffic policeman is found anywhere. One has to show hand to cross the sea of vehicles. The flow of all kinds of vehicles appears endless. The person driving a motorcycle doesn’t even leave one mm of space for the pedestrian to walk. Footpaths are a rarity. There is utter disregard to any kind of planning. Perhaps the authorities concerned don’t know the meaning of the word planning.
There is too much of carbon monoxide pollution emitted by the vehicles. People are compelled to cover their nostrils for the fear of getting all sorts of diseases, especially the respiratory and allergic diseases. Even Hindu girls look like the veiled Muslim girls. No one seems to understand the gravity of this kind of pollution leave alone global warming. Have they ever heard of ‘’ More >
Gundamma Katha – The Story of 50 years
Jun 13th
There are few films in Telugu cinema which have found a place in the history and culture of Telugu people. If Maya Bazaar occupies the mythological seat in people’s hearts, Pathala Bhairavi became the eternal movie in the genre of folklore. When it comes to socials none can beat the aura of “GUNDAMMA KATHA” which when released on June 7th, 1962 became such a success story that generations of Telugus see the film just to have fun and laugh wholeheartedly at the idiosyncrasies of a Telugu household.
The premise of the film and the subsequent story, that of two brothers marrying step-sisters and bringing a reform in their mother-in-law by staging some drama in the house, is well-known. The film which was acted by the likes of NTR, ANR, Savitri, Jamuna, Haranath, L Vijayalakshmi and SVR is as famous as any mythological story. But the impressive star-cast which commands every bit of respect were for once overshadowed by two women who just reminded everyone that this is a story which can happen in any household. Suryakantham as Gundamma and Chaya Devi as Sooramma just stole the show from the stars. Ramana Reddy as the comic-villain Gantanna added to the flavor and Rajanala in More >
Gayaka Chakravarthy Ghantasala
May 23rd
It is possible that someone else was accorded more recognition, better paid, more in demand (hardly any),won more awards or titles. But for generations of Telugu people born between 1940 and 1985, Venkateswara Rao, popularly known as Ghantasala was numero uno and no one else stood a chance for this special place in their hearts. Before Ghantasala found himself in the spotlight of public attention, through the media of films and gramophone records, he was an accomplished singer with impeccable training in Carnatic and Hindustani music. He composed music in in several Telugu and Tamil movies and sang in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalm movies. According to V.A.K. Ranagarao ”the most majestic voice”, Ghantasala helped Telugu film music develop its own distinct character which remains unparalleled.
Ghantasala was born on 4 December 1922 in Choutupalle near Gudivada into an ordinary family. His father Surayya was an itinerant singer of Narayana Teertha’s tarangas; he also played the mridanga. He was the first teacher of Venkateswara Rao since childhood. Ghantasala would dance, as a child of six to his father’s singing of taranga-s and this earned him the title of Bala Bharata. Surayya, who was always more into music and musing than looking after the family fortunes, More >
Andhra Pradesh- Maharashtra Connection
May 18th
Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra are not only Border States but have strong connection in customs and relationship even mainly due to the fact that Marathwada region of Maharashtra was part of the erstwhile Nizam Sate. Marawada people feel more at home at Hyderabad rather than visiting Mumbai, their capital city. Many Maharashtrians have settled in Telangana region of A.P, mainly in Hyderabad since many decades. Many Telugu people especially from Telangana region are settled especially in Mumbai and Solapur. Some of the customs in Telangana region are similar to Maharashtrians. There are many inter linguist marriages between Marathi and Telugu people. Famous Telugu poet Kaloji Narayan Rao is Maharashtrian. His family members are settled at Warangal.
There were two schools, Keshav Memorial High School and Vivekavardhini High School started by Maharashtrians in Hyderabad. Both these schools have grown up into big institutions. Chatrapati Shivaji and Babasaheb Ambedkar are household names in A.P. At one time Balgangadhar Tilak and Gopal Krishna Gokhale also were very popular names in A.P. There may be a million Telugu Shivajis named after Chatrapati. There are still hundreds of Telugu Tilaks and Gokhales in the age group of 60 years and above. Parents named their children Balgangadhar More >
Doctor of Philosophy
Apr 24th
Obtaining the doctorate in any subject is considered the ultimate or the pinnacle in the field of education. It gives immense satisfaction to the student, who gets a PhD. It’s compared with the climbing of Mount Everest. The million dollars question is whether the path though difficult, is that smooth. These students do Research under the guidance of a Professor for a very long time. The duration varies from 3 years to 6 years and sometimes goes beyond six years even. The students are generally under too much of a mental and physical stress most of the time and even working beyond the regular work hours. They can’t even express their feelings or revolt against their Professors for the fear of getting their future jeopardized.
There may be thousands and thousands of Universities across the Globe. But only few hundred Universities have some kind of a good reputation for providing high standard of education that includes top quality Lecturers and Professors and best infrastructure facilities in addition to sound financial stability. Getting a Bachelor’s degree, Masters degree or doing Research and obtaining a PhD has some value in such Universities only in the light of the future prospects of the students More >
Basic Medical Awareness
Apr 23rd
We find thousands and thousands of medicines available in medical shops across the Country?. Medical awareness doesn’t necessarily mean learning about the anatomy of our bodies, though it surely helps. Are there really thousands of various diseases so that we need these medicines to protect us?. I certainly don’t think so. We require only few hundreds of medicines. Then why such huge variety of medicines is available in the market. I firmly believe, it’s only due to the commercial interest of the businessmen dealing with the manufacture, wholesale and retail of the medicines, doctors being the essential culprits in the whole vicious scheme of things.
A simple medicine for headache is available with the brand names ‘’ Aspro’’, ‘’ Anacin’’,’’ Analgin’’, ‘’ Novalgin’’, Disprin’’ etc. All these medicines are manufactured by different companies having different brand names and are sold in medical shops with different price tags. These medicines are not prescription drugs and are available freely over the counter in medical shops. Similarly there are many medicines available for a simple illness such as fever like ‘’ Crocin’’, ‘’ Coldarin’’, ‘’ Acetamol’’ etc. The main ingredient in the medicine that suppresses the fever is called ‘’Paracetamol’’. This medicine is also More >
