A Very Happy Birthday to “The Melody Queen of India” – Lata Mangeshkar!

The Melody Queen of India, Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar, the greatest singer with an unbeatable record of over 30,000 hit songs; is 82 years old today. I wish her a Happy Birthday and many more to come.

Not a single day passes for millions of Indians without listening to her melodious songs at home or out of the house; advertently or inadvertently, and enjoy them. She is popular and adored all over India as she sang and continues to sing in all the regional languages. She has entertained the country for almost 70 years, with light Classical Music Tunes to Film Songs, from Ghazals to Bhajans and Pop. May she continue to mesmerize us with her Golden Voice.

The very first “International Media Ethics Day” is today!

Today is being celebrated as “The International Media Ethics Day”, for the very first time. The Center for International Media Ethics – CIME is celebrating the day in 12 countries by holding workshops and conferences. It is also offering several online ways to participate in the event. According to CIME; the aim of the Media Ethics Day is to mobilize the journalism community and provide journalists around the world with an opportunity to discuss media ethics issues, examine case studies, and participate in role-plays and debates related to the various ethical dilemmas they might face on the job.

India is not among these countries; though it has the most unethical journalists and media houses and needs to be educated. I have checked up today’s news and find that the Indian print and electronic media is least interested in this important event pertaining to their business. While rest of the world is agog with large scale participation, coverage and blogging on Media Ethics, most of our print and electronic media is as usual busy with biased, distorted and specific-agenda news and programs.

In the last few years the media industry has expanded all over the country and perhaps more so in Andhra Pradesh. Except for a minority of Newspapers and TV Channels, most of these media houses serve the interests of some political person or party, glorifying them constantly and criticizing everyone else. Gossip, vulgarity, crime and sensationalism of cheap stories are headlines. And important, useful, current and correct news takes the backstage or is missing. For instance the ongoing 12-day old General Strike – ‘Sakala Janula Samme’ and the overall political situation in Telangana is covered differently by different media agencies to suit their interests and unfortunately create confusion and controversies. Most of these media houses perhaps have no codes of ethics, standards or principles like truthfulness, accuracy, accountability, objectivity, fairness, and impartiality. In such a misleading situation created by the media it is not possible for us to get correct information on most subjects. We may read or hear more than two sources of news; pertaining to a particular subject and still remain confused or come to our own conclusions!

Down with the rule of donkeys and pigs!…political satire to amuse you!

Decades of deceitful, devastating greedy donkeys from the neighborhood and their dilly-dallying brother donkeys and queen donkey in the North are destroying my dominion, its development and peace and are responsible for the ongoing…disturbance, stir.

And these donkeys have equally corrupt, overfed, armed pigs to protect them against all their misdeeds and misrule. These pigs capable of illegally and brutally harming unarmed persons fail miserably and perennially fighting in our forests. Shame on the society that gives birth to such donkeys and pigs, which are an insult to every animal in the world including the real beast of burden and the provider of bacon.

I call them donkeys and pigs very rightly and for short, because the list of their names is a long one. And I think the list is not required as you are wise enough to know who I am referring to.

An appeal to the Hindu-religious cults in USA.

I am repeating here; an appeal that I made on facebook. I am sure you would agree with me. Please read on…

A Collection of “Reduplicated Idioms” In Telugu & English.

The repeating of parts of words to make new forms is called “Reduplication”. There are various categories of this – rhyming, exact and ablaut/vowel substitution. And of course we are all aware of plenty of such ‘Reduplication Idioms’ in English; like, Helter-skelter, Hocus-pocus, Pell-mell, Blah-blah, Goody-goody, Bye-bye, Dilly-dally, Chit-chat, Tip-top, etc. Similarly there are plenty of such Twin Words in ‘Telugu language of Telangana’. Today I came across a Telugu Magazine which presented an article on the local Telangana-Telugu dialect and several interesting Twin Words. I thought I should let Telugu speaking readers of my blog see and enjoy these interesting and very expressive rhyming Twin Words.

You may see the four Telugu posters below to remember/understand and appreciate the popular Telangana phrases and the last two posters will remind you of some commonly used English Twin words.  

‘Hyderabad Polo Season 2011’ gets extraordinary media coverage with the patronage of movie stars.

Commencing with film star Ram Charan owning the Hyderabad Polo and Racing Club Team, the local media is covering the ongoing Hyderabad Polo Season in detail and in a sensational manner making the event very popular and talk of the town. The presence of Ram Charan, his fiancée and some of his actor friends at the Polo Grounds is attracting a lot of media coverage and as a result crowds of cine fans and Polo enthusiasts. This 10-day event is taking place at the Secunderabad Polo Grounds which is also known as Bison Polo Grounds. This venue is very close to my house and along a road I take very often so I get to watch the activities here regularly.

Today, Ram Charan’s Hyderabad Polo Racing Club (RC HPRC) has won the ‘Chief Minister’s Trophy’ by defeating the Navy Team. This is Breaking News on all local TV channels and tomorrow it will be Headline News in all local Newspapers. From tomorrow, 13th to 17th September there will be more Polo for the ‘Army Commander’s Trophy’, and Ram Charan’s Team and the local crowds would look forward to their victory.  This extraordinary media coverage is very good for the popularity of Polo in the Twin Cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

I have furnished the schedule of the Polo Season at the top of this article. Persons interested to watch the games and other events may ascertain that days schedule and witness this great sport.

The Game of Polo is said to be the ‘Sport of Kings’ and the ‘King of Sports’. And that is why there were 17 Polo Grounds in Hyderabad (the largest in India) in 1948 under the rule of the world’s richest man, the Nizam – Mir Osman Ali Khan. That is the reason why the Indian Government called its Military Operation against the Nizam, to liberate the State of Hyderabad as ‘Operation Polo’. ‘Operation Polo’ lasted for six days, from 13th to 18th September 1948 with a decisive victory for India, and Hyderabad State got annexed to the Republic of India.

In appreciation of the performance of SCCL - A Coal Mining Company, with which we have a long association.

The Annual Accounts Report (2010-11) of the 140 year old Coal Mining Industry, and the 90 year old Singareni Collieries Company Limited, a Government Company in Telangana, is just received by me. The results are good, I am happy as the company is doing well.  

In the long past, we were directly associated with SCCL – The Singareni Collieries Company, Kothagudem, for three decades, as my father, Sri. N. Bhaskarachary has served the Company as Chief Personnel Officer for several years and later my brother, Dr. N. Lakshminarsu as Dental Surgeon and me as an Asst. Engineer for few years. A strong attachment to the Organization, the Town, and the People there with which we have been happily associated for a long period is perhaps very natural. The memories and experiences of those days live with us forever. Though it is several years since we left Singareni Collieries and Kothagudem, we feel happy whenever there is good news about the town or the Company, on TV or in the newspapers. We still have a few acquaintances and friends from Kothagudem visiting us, when they come to Hyderabad. And then there is so much for us to find out, and talk about Singareni Collieries and Kothagudem.

Further, as shareholders in the Company (though of a microscopic amount), we keep receiving information on the Board Meetings and the ‘Annual Report and Accounts’. During the year 2010-11, the Company has produced 51.33 million tons of Coal, with Gross Sales of Rupees 92.87 billion! and a Net Profit after Tax of Rupees 3514 million!

Great figures! I am elated, and I am sure that anyone who sees the above two excerpts from the Company’s Annual Report would appreciate the results, even if they do not know anything about this 140 year old Coal Mining Industry in Telangana.

Some of my readers who would like to know more about Singareni Collieries and Kothagudem and my relationship with them; may see some articles I wrote on this association, by clicking on the following links:

The Singareni Collieries Company Limited, Kothagudem - Part I

The Singareni Collieries Company Limited, Kothagudem - Part II

The Singareni Collieries Company Limited, Kothagudem - Part III

The Singareni Collieries Company Limited, Kothagudem - Part IV

Gorgeously Colorful & Attractive! Ixora Coccinea Flowers!! Blossom at Our House!!!

Earth laughs through flowers. ~ Anonymous.

Flowers of the Ixora Coccinea plant are colourful and very attractive as you can see in the above pictures of our garden.  Each flower is a cluster of over a hundred smaller flowers, each floret with four petals, and over a hundred of them! Each flower is a bouquet by itself! This flower is called ‘Nooru Varahala Puvvu’ in Telugu; meaning a flower having one hundred Gems!

The Ixora Coccinea flowers are also known as Jungle Geranium, Flame of the Woods, Jungle Flame and West Indian Jasmine and as Needle Flower. We have five Ixora plants in our house which bear Yellow, Orange, Pink and Red flowers almost throughout the year. After the flowers bloom they stay firm and fresh on the plants for over six weeks before they wilt. While the plants that you see in the photographs have grown to a height of 4 to 6 feet, we have another large Ixora plant that is 11 feet tall. This plant bears Orange colour flowers and as of now, it is full of buds which would start blossoming in a week’s time, adding further charm to our small garden. 

With lovely flowers almost all year long, the dense and multi-branched Ixora plant with dark green, glossy and leathery, long leaves would stand out as a grand ornamental plant in any garden.

Each flower is a soul blossoming out to nature. ~ Anonymous.

The terrorists are unmindful of the grief they cause by death and injuries because they are insane, but how about our rulers.

Terrorists belonging to some insane barbaric group have attacked innocent people at Delhi High Court today, with a bomb; causing deaths and injuries. These barbarians have achieved nothing but for universal blame and condemnation, by their inhuman, uncivilized and cowardly act and yet they might be rejoicing over the blood they have shed for reasons only such terrorists and their insane swine-headed leaders can understand. 12 persons are killed and 76 people are injured, causing tremendous amount of grief and sorrow to the victims, their families, relatives and friends. We are all disturbed by such violent incidents; as precious lives are lost or maimed and the victims and their families suffer for years to come.

Similarly all civilized people all over the world would certainly be disturbed by such terrorist attacks, but how about our rulers. They continue to give stereotype explanations, lectures and assurances after every such incident, without sincerely trying to do their best in prevention of such crimes against society. And when terrorists are caught by our brave officers, our rulers seem to have no will to expeditiously and severely punish the perpetrators of such crimes.

I think we should strengthen our intelligence gathering for detection and prevention of such crimes. Top class security arrangements should be made at all public places - similar to what our Ministers, MPs and MLAs are provided round the clock and at their houses. And when the terrorists and their sympathizers are caught a swift and severe punishment must be rendered. Everything possible to deter such crime should be taken up. Some countries have been attacked once or twice by terrorists but after that; the Governments there have been successful in tackling terrorists and preventing such attacks. In this regard, we may learn lessons from countries like USA and UK and we may seek their guidance.  I am just an ordinary citizen trying to express my anguish over this incident and prevention of such attacks in future.

In conclusion I can only pray – God, bless the victims and their families with courage and strength. God, show no mercy to the attackers, let them be punished here and in hell for their misdeeds. And God, bring an end to terrorism, convert terrorists from beasts to civilized, compassionate human beings.