Hello 2012!!!

Wish you a very very Peaceful New Year.....

Happy Diwali

Wish you all A very very happy and safe Diwali.
I am glad that this year i am celebrating Diwali with my parents and my brother after so many years. Please use hand made clay Diyas on this festival and do follow it every year.

babbaye!!

MAHABHARATA

Most of these days I was spending my time with Telugu literature. After a very long time I read MahaBharata that too in English. It is by DevDutt Pattanaik titled JAYA-An Illustrated Retelling Of The MahaBharata. What attracted me to read this book is it's cover page! very beautiful cover design with a nice picture of Krishna-Arjuna on a chariot drawn in Ancient Indian style of Art. The most important part i have to mention here is the back cover of this book that is totally responsible for making me read it.
These are the lines ....
The MahaBharata is an ancient Hindu epic where:
a son renounces sex so that his old father can remarry
a daughter is a prize in an archery contest
a teacher demands half a kingdom as his tuition fee
a student is turned away because of his caste
a mother asks her sons to share a wife
a father curses his son-in-law to be old and impotent
a husband lets another man make his wife pregnant
a wife blindfolds herself to share her husband's blindness
a forest is destroyed for a new city
a family is divided over inheritence
a king gambles away his kingdom
a queen is forced to serve as a maid
a man is stripped of his manhood for a year
a woman is publicly disrobed
a war is fought where all rules are broken
a shift in sexuality secures victory
the vanquished go to paradise
the victors lose their children
the earth is bathed in blood
God is cursed
until wisdom prevails
dont you think these lines are very attractive? About the book..it is in simple language and you can feel someone telling you a story as you turn the pages. The value addition by the author to this great epic is the trivia after each chapter where he mentions the Historical records, archeological findings,etc,. related to ths epic. He also talks about the Plays and Poetry by Legendry Schollars on MahaBharata and discusses them in brief. The author also presents his perspective in this trivia and my favourite is the family charts and the flow diagrams given in the book. Guys, find some time to know our great epic Mahabharata.

Got addicted...Please save me from Viswanatha Satyanarayana!

Started with Veyi padagalu. Now i completed 14 of Satya sir's novels. Thought of stopping to read these books for few days.Got addicted!
I dont know how i am able to spend most of my time with this old man! i am not getting bored of these old people...Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Veturi, Nannaya, and those very old telugu books.

And there is another guy who keeps on asking me about his Grandpa's writings (Viswanatha's maternal grandson, shankar kadiyala, also my cousin) because he thinks hearing from me is simple than attempting to read his grandpa's books. oh god, save me from this genious! i really got addicted to his writings......if i can't stop reading, i can't stop blogging on him (whenever i find time i usually open my telugu blog, teluguteeraalu) and my blog is getting flooded with this old man and his writings!

women's day in the name of a 10 -year -old girl !

This 10- year- old Mayuri grabbed my total attention yesterday, when i saw her interview on a Telugu news channel. I picked up this article from THE HINDU for my blog. Read and get inspired!

A video camera on her frail wrist looks like an extension of her arm, as much as the still camera hanging from her neck, which is by now a familiar sight.

As still photographers and camerapersons train their lenses at her, she lifts her right arm, flips open the viewfinder and focuses on some object that catches her fancy and starts recording. That's Masanagari Mayuri, a little just over 10-year-old, class V student of a government school, who has attracted attention with her short film ‘Dhanwar-lo O Avva', a six-minute visual delight that captures a day in the life of her grandmother.

If she has learnt to handle a videocam from her aunt Chinna Narsamma, a non-literate Dalit farmer and a pioneer filmmaker in her community, and uncle Yesu, a conversation with her grandmother Ratnavva has inspired her to make a profile of the latter's work on the farm in Dhanwar village of Medak district. In the six-minute film, little Mayuri has captured her grandma's daily activity. Ratnavva does not buy any food from outside and is self-sufficient with the produce from her two-acre farm. It is not just the camera work. The little girl is quite adept with the Telugu script and is guided by P.V. Satheesh of the Deccan Development Society, under whose project area Mayuri's native village of Pastapur in Zaheerabad mandal, in Medak district, falls. The society works with Dalit women in 70 villages of the district on food sovereignty.

Premiered at film fest

The short film has the distinction of being screened at the inaugural of the 7th Asian Women's film Festival, 2011, in New Delhi on Monday. It was also premiered at the VIBGYOR Film Festival at Thrissur, Kerala, and impressed people there.

Her prowess with the camera is what distinguishes Mayuri from the other children of her age. Mayuri is assisted in her work by Chinna and Mocha, who help her with the equipment that includes a tripod and an umbrella, which protects the camera from the harsh rays of the sun. Ask her what she wants to become when she grows up and pat comes the reply: “Journalist specialising in agriculture.”

help me

It is so long that i have participated in youth festivals. This time i attended one, the fest organized by VANDE MATARAM YOUTH FRONT.I got one very good oppurtunity to overcome my fear complex to sing on a stage. I managed to sing but i am scared to attempt it once again.This fest helped me rediscover what i want to be, stimulated me to activate my sanghamitra , the social welfare activity group that i started while doing my PG. Thanks to VANDE MATARAM YOUTH FRONT.Please help me out with suggestions to restart sanghamitra!!!

hello 2011

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!