national song

In his Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, Nirad C. Chaudhuri has aptly described the atmosphere of the times in which the song was written. "The historical romances of Bankim Chatterjee and Ramesh Chandra Dutt glorified Hindu rebellion against Muslim rule and showed the Muslims in a correspondingly poor light. Chatterjee was positively and fiercely anti-Muslim. We were eager readers of these romances and we readily absorbed their spirit."
R.C. Majumdar, the historian, writes "During the long and arduous struggle for freedom from 1905 to 1947 'Bande Mataram' was the rallying cry of the patriotic sons of India, and thousands of them succumbed to the lathi blow of the British police or mounted the scaffold with 'Bande Mataram' on their lips. The central plot moves round a band of sanyasis, called santanas or children, who left their hearth and home and dedicated their lives to the cause of their motherland. They worshipped their motherland as the Goddess Kali;... This aspect of the Ananda Math and the imagery of Goddess Kali leave no doubt that Bankimchandra's nationalism was Hindu rather than Indian. This is made crystal clear from his other writings which contain passionate outbursts against the subjugation of India by the Muslims. From that day set the sun of our glory - that is the refrain of his essays and novels which not unoften contain adverse, and sometimes even irreverent, remarks against the Muslims". As Majumdar puts it, "Bankimchandra converted patriotism into religion and religion into patriotism."

Full song from Anand Math a Bengali novel is:

vande maataraM 
sujalaaM suphalaaM malayaja shiitalaaM 
sasyashyaamalaaM maataraM || 
 
 
 
 
shubhrajyotsnaa pulakitayaaminiiM 
pullakusumita drumadala shobhiniiM 
suhaasiniiM sumadhura bhaashhiNiiM 
sukhadaaM varadaaM maataraM || 
 
 
 
 koTi koTi kaNTha kalakalaninaada karaale 
koTi koTi bhujai.rdhR^itakharakaravaale 
abalaa keno maa eto bale 
bahubaladhaariNiiM namaami taariNiiM 
ripudalavaariNiiM maataraM || 
 
 
 
 
 tumi vidyaa tumi dharma 
tumi hR^idi tumi marma  
tvaM hi praaNaaH shariire 
 
baahute tumi maa shakti 
hR^idaye tumi maa bhakti 
tomaara i pratimaa gaDi 
mandire mandire || 
 
 
tvaM hi durgaa dashapraharaNadhaariNii 
kamalaa kamaladala vihaariNii 
vaaNii vidyaadaayinii namaami tvaaM 
namaami kamalaaM amalaaM atulaaM 
sujalaaM suphalaaM maataraM || 
 
 
 
 
shyaamalaaM saralaaM susmitaaM bhuushhitaaM 
dharaNiiM bharaNiiM maataraM ||  

 The following English translation is by Shree Aurobindo.

Mother, I bow to thee!   
Rich with thy hurrying streams,   
bright with orchard gleams,   
Cool with thy winds of delight,   
Dark fields waving Mother of might,   
Mother free.   
Glory of moonlight dreams,   
Over thy branches and lordly streams,   
 Clad in thy blossoming trees,   
Mother, giver of ease   
Laughing low and sweet!   
Mother I kiss thy feet,   
Speaker sweet and low!   
Mother, to thee I bow.   
   
Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands   
When the sword flesh out in the seventy million hands   
And seventy million voices roar   
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?   
With many strengths who art mighty and stored,   
To thee I call Mother and Lord!   
Though who savest, arise and save!   
To her I cry who ever her foeman drove   
Back from plain and Sea   
And shook herself free.   
     
Thou art wisdom, thou art law,  
Thou art heart, our soul, our breath  
Though art love divine, the awe  
In our hearts that conquers death.  
Thine the strength that nervs the arm,  
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.  
Every image made divine  
In our temples is but thine.  
 
 
Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,  
With her hands that strike and her  
swords of sheen,  
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,  
And the Muse a hundred-toned,  
Pure and perfect without peer,  
Mother lend thine ear,  
Rich with thy hurrying streams,  
Bright with thy orchard gleems,  
Dark of hue O candid-fair  
In thy soul, with jewelled hair  
And thy glorious smile divine,  
Lovilest of all earthly lands,  
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!  
Mother, mother  mine!  
Mother sweet, I bow to thee,  
Mother great and free!  

Bankim, as we will see in the translation done by Aurobindo, referred to “seven crores” of people worshipping motherland. This was the population of the then Bengal Province.

Tax free

Salman Khursheed talked about 'vulgar' salaries. Pranob Mukharjee should say some thing about dividents.
In 2006-2007 share holders of 1100 companies pocketed Rs 40,000 crores.

There is no tax on dividents paid to share holders.
Imagine the money (tax free) received by owners of companies.

I do not have the figures for
2007-08, 2008-09.

Cricket

click to enlarge.
This is from Times of India of 16.9.09

I thought Azharuddin was remembered for match fixing.

Picture of the year

I do not know what to say. I invite comments.

Phonetics

In 1966-67 I was a student of Bombay University, studying English and American literature. Under exchange programme Mr. Chritopher Knap; a fresh graduate from Leeds was a faculty to teach us Phonetics. He stayed in the same hostel, university hostel on 'B' Road, Chrchgate, where I stayed. He was almost my age. He insisted we called him Chris. Mr. Green, British Cousel Librarian, visited once a week to talk about intonation. We had Prof. Ropollo from Massechussets for American literature. Prof. Ropollo stayed in Taj Mahal hotel. It was quite an experience interacting with them. I still have some handouts given by Chris, which I wish to share. click to enlarge images

Classical dances of India

Classical dances in India have their origin in temples. They began as a form of worship.

Kathakali is a Kerala dance. It is a pantomime depicting a scene from Mahabharat, an epic, whch Hindus consider as 'smriti'(tradition). It is only performed by men.


Bharat Natyam is of Tamil Nadu origin. It was also originally performed in temples as a form of worship. This form of dance is sensuous and has foot work facial expressions (bhava), delicate body movements(mudra)and acting (abhinaya).

Kuchipudi originated in a village called Kuchipudi, in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. Originally it was performed by boys. When boys impersonate girls, they tend to exagerate the feminine gestures. That is how this dance has exagerated faminine gestures. This dance was patronised by Quli Qutub Shah, the founder king of Qutubshahi dynasty.

Orissi originated in Orissa. This dance was formed on the basis of scupted temple figures of Orissa. Since the movements in sculptures were restrited, in this dance foot and hand movements are closer to the dancers' body. In Bharatnatyam there is no restriction of movements.

Manipuri dance is Krishna Lila. This is a costume dance. Since the costume is very elaborate, the vibrancy is affected. However costumes, bhava and mudra are a treat to watch.

Kathak also originated in temples. Because of the patronage of Wajid Ali Shah of Avadh, it has become a secular dance. It has beautiful foot work, bhava, abhinaya and mudra. Most of the Hindi film dances are based on this form.

Cricket

Cover drive: A drive that is hit away from the batsman's body.

Drive: A hit executed by the batsman in which he swings the bat in a long arc and sends the ball in one of several possible directions.

Glide: A hit, which is executed like a drive but is angled to go behind the batsman on his off side.

Hook: A hit that is executed by the batsman swinging his bat around his body, and following up with a complete body turn, usually pivoting on one foot...works best on a pitch that is moving away from the batsman on his "leg" side.


Late cut: A hit that is executed by a batsman by deflecting the pitch in a slicing motion, just before it reaches the wicket keeper or catcher.


Leg glance A hit consisiting of a deflection around the batsman's legs, of a pitch past the wicket keeper and behind him.

Lofted drive: A drive where the ball is lofted (hit in the air) to clear infield or midfield positions.

Off drive: A drive, which is executed at about a 45-degree angle to the line of the wickets, on the batsman's off side

On drive: A drive, which is executed at about a 45-degree angle to the line of the wickets, on the batsman's on or leg side.

Pull: A hit executed by a batsman "pulling" an offside pitch around his body towards his other (i.e.on, or leg) side.

Square cut: A hit that looks like a slash across the body, used by batsman to hit the ball "square" to his batting position.

Sweep: A hit executed towards his leg or on side, by "sweeping" his bat around his body.

Yorker: An "overpitch" delivery which is thrown so far forward as to bounce right under the batsman's bat, and beat him.

Spin: A kind of pitch, usually delivered at slow speed, where fingers or/and wrist are used to impart spin to the ball to achieve "breaks"; so, spin bowler = a pitcher who uses spin.

Seamer: A faster pitch delivered with the seam straight, and which can "slide" in the air or "break" unexpectedly.

Overpitched delivery: A pitch, which is pitched so far forward that the batsman can reach the point where it bounced by a forward step.

Outswing: A pitch, which moves down and away from the batsman in the air.

Long hop or short pitch: A pitch that is bounced far away from the batsman ( at least 7 to 10 yards away) , so it reaches the batsman after a long hop, or bounce.

Off-break: A pitch, which, after bouncing, "breaks" into the batsman's body from his off side.

Leg break :a pitch that is thrown and breaks into a batsman's body off the bounce, from the batsman's "leg" side.

Inswing: A pitch that moves into a batsman in the air.

Googly: A pitch which is thrown with grip but reverse finger spin to look like a leg-break that should move across and away from the batsman, but actually moves in the opposite direction, i.e. into the batsman, like an off-break, after it bounces.

Good length, or good-length delivery: A pitch which bounces just outside the batsman's maximum forward reach (i.e. 3 to 5 yards from the wickets, depending upon batsman's height).... these pitches are the hardest for a batsman to hit, because he cannot decide whether to step forward anyway, or if he should step back and give himself the maximum distance from the "bounce", to see what the ball might be doing.

Full toss: A pitch that reaches the batsman without a bounce.

Cutter, leg- or off- A fast pitch where a slashing arm action rather than wrist or finger spin is used to get a slight break off the bounce.... depending on the direction of the break, it can be called a leg-cutter or off-cutter.

Chinaman: A left-hander's googly.i.e. A pitch that looks as if it could break into a right-handed batsman on the bounce but breaks away instead.

Bumper: A ball that is bounced high enough to hit a batsman's head or shoulders.