A Moving Song

I was translating this song (I did a sad job, I have to confess) from a Telugu movie called Mooga Manasulu which literally means Dumb Hearts. The male protagonist (Akkineni Nageswara Rao) is in love with the female protagonist (Savitri) and vice versa. The supporting actress (Jamuna) is also in love with ANR. There is this song which she addresses to him in the movie. The lyrics (Acharya Atreya) are absolutely beautiful and so is the tune (K V Mahadevan). I felt this was a nice thing to share with everyone, hence this write up.

By the way this movie was remade into Hindi starring Sunil Dutt and Nutan as Milan.

First the Telugu lyrics.

maanu maakunu kaanu
raayi rappanu kaane kaanu
maamoolu manisini nenu
nee manisini nenu

naaku oka manasunnaadi
nalgurila aasunnadi
kalalu kane kallunnayi
avi kalata padite neellunnaayi

pramidanu techchi vattini yesi
chamurunu posi bema choopeva
inta chesi, yeliginchenduku
yenaka mumdulaadeva

manisi toti yelakolam
aadukunte baaguntaadi
manasu toti aadaku mama
virigipote atakadu malla

Now the translation (forgive and forget the errors).

paed paudha nahi hoon
patthar to hoon hi nahi
main seedha saadha insaan hoon
tumhara insaan hoon

mera bhi ek dil hain
sab ke jaise aasha hain
sapne dekhne waale naina hain
wo vichalit hote hain to aansoon hain

diya laa ke, baati rakh ke
ghee daal ke, bhram dikhaya kya tumne
ye sab kar ke, jalaane ke liye
aage peeche kar rahe ho (hichkicha rahe ho)

insaan ke saath mazaak karna achcha lagta hain
dil ke saath mat khelna
toot jaaye to judega nahi

Gullibility on the Internet

Many must hav heard of phishing and also the Nigerian Fraud. For the uninitiated the latter is a kind of email fraud where someone contacts you to transfer a large amount out of a certain country (not only Nigeria). Scott Adams says in a Dilbert book that people are stupid. Occasionally it does seem so. If spam and the likes still survive it means that there are people who read these mails and act upon them.

Recently I received two mails on my college email ID. One was from ynotmarry.com, which I think is a marriage agency. The sender's name was Shalini and I actually have a batchmate at IIFT by that name. I was non-plussed for a few seconds as to why she sent me the mail. Also I first thought that the website points out why we should not marry! The other was something on the lines of the Nigerian fraud. But this time it was from a person claiming to be one of a pair of orphans. They wanted my help. Since when have people started believing in orphans personally going online and asking for help!

I have attached screenshots of the two mails.

Saare Jahaan se Achcha

There will probably be very few Indians (at least from the northern part of the country) who will not have heard of the song, Saare Jahaan se Achcha by the poet Mohammed Iqbal. It is widely considered to be a patriotic song in praise of India. But how many people know that the poet proposed a separate nation for Muslims which became the Pakistan concept and that he later disavowed the song? Also Iqbal is the national poet of Pakistan. Maybe understandably, the song is little known in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Read this article.

This country is weird in its inclusivity. Accusations have also been made against our current national anthem that it is in fact a song of praise addressed to the British Monarch. Tagore himself acknowledged that he was asked to pen something in praise of the emperor, but he ended up addressing it to God and not to the British monarch as this was something that he could not do.

Remember the controversy some time back to change the lyrics of the national anthem as Sindh is no longer a part of India? The final verdict was that Sindh refers to the people and hence the word need not be removed. Thus India has consistently been a mixture of people - tolerant and zealous/bigoted. When will all Indians finally understand this and live amicably with one another?

Worrying about other people's opinions

This is an email forward that I got from an ex-BITian - Nirbhai Chadha. I found it to be awesome, and it also reflects my attitude in general, especially when I ask questions. No offence meant to anybody. Read on.

A pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won. The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and it won again.

The local paper read

PASTOR'S ASS OUT FRONT

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in another race. The next day, the local paper headline read

BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR'S ASS

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey. The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent. The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day.

NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN

The bishop fainted. He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10. The next day the paper read

NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild. The next day the headlines read

NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE

The bishop was buried the next day.

The moral of the story - being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery, and can even shorten your life.

So be yourself and enjoy life. Stop worrying about everyone else's ass and you'll be a lot happier and live longer!

'Power' Cuts

Today I had my dinner and went to this market in Katwariya Sarai, a 5-minute walk from IIFT. As soon as came onto the main road I saw that the traffic was at a standstill. So I assumed that either an accident had taken place or someone was taking a turn and blocking the entire traffic. It turned out the people living in the area had blocked the road to protest against a power outage that had been going on for more than two hours. The Adhchini-Ber Sarai road (New Mehrauli Road) is a pretty busy stretch and there was chaos on the road.

Who is to blame for this situation? The people don't realize that emergency services can be affected because of such acts. There are a number of hospitals in and around the area. Mercifully one ambulance was allowed to pass. I saw a Delhi Police Qualis too, but I don't think they actually did anything. But can we place the entire blame on the people? What has the government been doing to remove power shortages. It can hide behind the fact the rainfall this year has not exactly been plenty. But is this situation going to continue every year? Power is probably one of the sectors where there is a dire need for reforms. The current power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde supposedly had a lacklustre performance in his last stint. Yet he has been brought back to the same ministry. Why?

The nuclear deal is supposed to help in securing India's energy future, but the results of the deal are quite some time away from bearing results. The netas will not realize the suffering the common man undergoes, especially in the heat Delhi was reeling under till today afternoon. I am pretty sure the political elite of India do not experience any power outages (imagine the uproar if such a thing were to happen in Lutyens' Delhi or the loss of face if it were to happen in the diplomatic corps' area). Remove the power for these people so that they will gain an understanding of the aam aadmi's plight. Campaigning in the name of the common man is not enough. Does the government have enough will to actually do something?

MBA Classes

There are some things in this world that are logical and there are some that are beyond it. I am ranting about the timings used in Indian MBA colleges (ok, maybe not all, but definitely some). However good a lecturer might be, what is the point in having classes for more than 1.5 hours or so?

If one seriously thinks, what is the probability that the students won't get bored out of their heads after the aforementioned time period. Imagine sitting through two consecutive sessions (which is four hours in IIFT, though I should confess there is (are) breaks in between).

The formula seems to be to stuff as much as possible in the brains of the students in as little time as possible. The question is, does that actually work?

Gay 'Pride' and Rights

I am writing this post after this NDTV article.

First of all, a disclaimer. I am not homophobic. If someone wants to be homosexual it is his/her prerogative (I wonder, has anyone tried to invent new grammar for a gay guy and a lesbian female?). The thing that in a way amuses me is the gay 'pride' that is spoken about. I do not go about proclaiming I am proud to be heterosexual. Are the gays saying they are better than others with previously accepted sexual preferences? They are welcome to fight for their rights. The choice of words I feel is something that can be changed.

Article 377 according to which homosexuality is a crime might be removed. Understandably the gay community is happy and the religious community (or right wingers) is not. The Church feels that this is against society, I fail to understand why. The VHP is against it. Some Muslims feel it will lead to sexual anarchy. I wish to tell these people that just because homosexuality is legal people are not going to change their sexual preferences. The VHP said there will be a spread in diseases. If protection is used, why should there be such an increase? The AIDS prevention campaign in India focuses a lot on condoms and this was especially true in Andhra Pradesh under C B Naidu's government. Instead of asking people to use protection, the government should tell the citizens to remain faithful to their spouses (this point was actually raised by a BJP member).

If the religious leaders think homosexuality is a sin, let it be so. They should realize that according to their views, these people will suffer. The gays and lesbians will anyway not listen to your sermons and change. So stop persecuting them and let us accept that we live in a free society. As long as one does not provably harm the society why should we indulge in persecution?