Panchangam site is back as a blog

Thr  same friendly Panchanga people who used to be at Geocities.com/panchangaminenglish. Since, Geocities closed down we have moved herehttp://www.panchangaminenglish.com/ .

We are now in Phalguna Krishna Paksha of Virodhi. They have uploaded, as usual the PDF version of English Panchangam for Vikruthi March 2010 to April 2011. 'Panchangam in English' in roman script. Also, they have uploaded the Kannada Panchanga 'Madhwa Panchanga' 'ಮಾಧ್ವ ಪಂಚಾಂಗ' for Vikruthi.

In additon, they have introduced the Tamil Panchangam calendar for the Greogorian year 2010. This also contains the Panchanga Shravana for the year Vikruthi. This is a new product and covers only the 12 months between January 2010 and December 2010. However, it contains all details that a Panchanga should for each day in that period.

Soon, you will find all the archives of Panchanga(m)s and articles that you could find in the geocities site here as well.

Do write in your feedback to snrao(at)qualitysystems.co.in

As they publish panchangams in 3 languages, you might be wondering that the URL is an oxymoron. But then it is :)

Vikruthi is here !

Vikruthi is here ! Vikruthi Panchang available here.

Gender Exclusivity

Whenever people talk of gender inclusivity ( people actually talk of 'gender diversity' but since there are not too many diverse genders, let us stick with 'inclusivity') they most often mean the inclusion of women in hitherto men dominated spheres of work.

This in, late 2009, is passe. The march of women at workplace, in India, is slow but sure and is gathering pace to the (pleasant) point of no return. Which is to mean that the world (including corporate world) can choose to ignore women to their own peril.

However, the fate of transgenders in India is deplorable. Disowned by families, and forced to fend for themselves, the national profession for transgenders seems to be petty extortion at traffic signals and railway compartments.

Of course, in some communities, there is a social accommadation in rituals involving trangenders to bless the social function. While this provide a source of livelihood, it does little to bring transgenders to the mainstream. In fact, having the opposite effect - furthering the myth of a transgender's potency to bless and curse.

Society chooses to ignore them, because it is unpleasant to think of them. Anyway if you travel in airconditioned cars and coaches, it is very convenient to ignore them.

No mainstream enterprise hires trangenders. They have no marketable skills. But they are able-bodied and know that society is embarrased by them AND have stomachs to support. Easiest way is to use unpleasantness and extort a price for it.

When will gender inclusivity reach them ?

Karnataka Rajyotsava, not Kannada Rajyotsava

It is 'Karnataka Rajyotsava' often called Kannada Rajyotsava. But thats exclusive and misrepresenting. Rajyotsava Day is a day to celebrate the formation of the state of Karnataka on the basis of the lingustic demarcation of state boundaries. However, Tulu, Konkani, Sanketi and Kodava belong just as much to Karnataka as Kannada.

It is a Naadu Habba not a Bhashye habba. Incidentally, the Bhashe was instrumental in deciding the naadu.

Nobody clarifies and the misnomer continues.

Jaswant outbursts affect Jaswant more than Advani !

If Jaswant knew Advani was "at the center of cash-for-votes scam" why did he not expose it then ? Or at least dissassociated with the BJP ?
This is not to justify his explusion for writing a book but then....Grapes seem to be sour.

Sach ka Saamna sucks !

Sach ka Saama is disgusting. Actually it is the 'celebrities ' who are disgusting but the common platform is the Show and hence my ire on the show.
Before you react, let me assure you, I am no prude. Reality shows are fine. Asking.. um.. err..questions hitherto unasked in public is new but not objectionable on only that ground.

What disgusts one is the trade-off the 'celebrity' makes between pubic embarrasment ( er, I meant public embarrasment which they might equate to fame) and 10 lakhs of rupees. A valid point of view is that the 'celebrity' would not care to bare all for 10 lakhs that he / she might or might not win on the game show. One strongly suspects the consideration of an 'appearence fee'.

There are reality shows and there are other reality shows. Sach Ka Saamna is not a game of skill nor is it a game of chance. It is no beauty contest, nor a popularity contest. It does not test endurance or personality.It is no human interest story. But it is most certainly is entertaining. The kind of depraving entertainment that the dark side of us want to watch. Want to gossip about.

The fig leaf of the show is that it is about Truth. The Government of India's motto is Satyameva Jayete, reminded Siddhartha Basu, producer of Sach ka Saamna.

If only someone would offer me 10 crores of rupees, I would confess to all acts that I have never performed !

Dr. Kalam's visit

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam visited my office this week. In anticipation of the visit. I was as excited as one would be to meet his favourite cricket or Bollywood star. It turned out that I was not the only one.
A role model for the nation, Dr. Kalam is, rightfully, credited with raising the stature of the position of the President of India while bringing the presidency closer to the people- things which had not happened in the 52 years of the Republic prior to his taking over.
Dr. Kalam spoke on the importance of technology and R&D in a nation's development especially that of a developing nation. He was in his elements when describing technically his experience in R&D and contextualizing with the inauguration of the R&D lab.

Then he fielded Questions with a child-like elan, interspersing every sentence with 'ok'. "We have a Mission to be a Developed Nation by 2020. ok? To achieve this we have 3 Projects. ok ?"

The child-like enthusiasm, the inspirational eyes, the infectious optimism make the man. If Gandhi ( Mahatma, i.e) was the Indian of the Century in the 20th century, Dr. Kalam will probably be hailed as the India of the 21st Century.

Not for launching satellites, not for testing guided missiles, certainly not for Pokhran. But for igniting passion into youth, making patriotism less jingoistic more fashionable, for adding altruism to public life but most of all for inspiring a billion people.

Salaam Dr. Kalam

Give a dog a bad name and hang him ! - Chaplain saga

That is exactly what is happening to the BJP Government in Karnataka. In the Chaplain row issue, film director Hemant Hegde sought to put up a permenant statute ( note Permenant) in in Baindur, near Udupi in coastal Karnataka.

The other important aspectst to be noted are that

• Hemant Hegde seeks to use this statue as a prop in a song sequence
• Seeks Rupees 30 Lakh from sources to put up a permenant statue
• Hemant Hegde has little to lose. He sources money through contributions/donations. He anyway does not live in Baindur to put up with the statue permenantly.

One might, reasonably, presume that the location has been chosen by Hemant Hegde keeping the backdrop to the context of the film ( well, to err on the safer side, I am giving credit to the director).

The local people of Baindur have objected to its installation. The question is "do the local people have no say if a permenant statue is to come up in their area ?"

The controversy begins at the second point that Hemant Hegde claims that Charlie Chaplain's statue was objected to "because he was a Christian". All news channel dutifully carry the allegation and blow up the story in the context of previous events in Udupi District.

The "christian" remark is not attributed to any individual of standing.No names are raised.

Even assuming that someone had made such a remark, it can only be innocous, to suggest that a Charlie Chaplain statue has no relevance to the local area and at any rate he does not hail from Dakshina Kannada /Karnataka or India.

It can be an as innocous reference to , let us say, a foreign personality, as the Greogorian calendar is referred to as the "English Calendar" or Allopathic medicine as "English Medicine".

People of Dakshina Kannada district will probably not consider a George Fernandes or Oscar Fernandes a "christian" nor object to their statues being installed ( of course, in India till Mayawati it was not the culture to install statues of living persons).

Give a dog a bad name and hang him !