Hamsadhwani instrumental

Been searching for a while for an instrumental rendition of raga Hamsadhwani, the most popular use of which is in MSD's Vataapi Ganapatim. Came across a couple of superb pieces on YouTube, and thought of posting it for those interested:

• Shrinidhi's guitar rendition of Vataapi at a NJ temple
• A saxophone version - there are more than one sax versions, but I feel this one from Shyam Murali is nice

Here is the Ibanez guitar version embedded:

Passport Application: Day 2

Day 1 for the passport application of my daughter was mentioned in an earlier post. Fortunately, day 2, was not as bad at all. Things did proceed smoothly. There was a separate queue for people who had had to go back and come for a second (or more) visit. The sentiment in the queue was the same - why hide information from people, and why not mention everything clearly. Also, such "repeat visitors" were herded into Hall 2, which is a separate hall than the Hall 1 (for normal passport applications).

In any case, the application was accepted by 11 a.m.

Netra tarpanam: lubrication for the eyes

I have been visiting one of Ayush Ayurvedic Therapy Centres for a few times now, and one of the treatments I undertake is what is known as "Netra tarpanam". In fact, after these few sittings, I have come to like its effect on my eyes. Working by spending a larger part of the day staring at a computer screen, it is easy for the eyes to be strained. Fortunately, for me, I still do not have had to resort to lenses. But in my experience, this therapy seems to have the good benefits that it touts - at least, my eyes feel better.

Let me explain the treatment first: You are asked to lie down, and a "wall or dam" is prepared using ground (urad or rice?) flour around both the eyes. The idea is to put some medicated liquid on the eyes, and to make it remain there and enter the eyes. This medicated liquid is usually some kind of medicated ghee that is warmed up just before pouring it on the eyes. While some people I have described this to get scared just thinking of hot ghee being poured into one's eyes, notice that I said warm and not hot.The ghee is warm enough to cause a good fomentation of the eye lids. You are then asked to open the eyes, and the liquid is allowed to float on the eyes. After a little twitching (as is the usual case with eye drops), the liquid is then dabbed up. The eyes feel much relieved and lubricated.

In another context, a book on natural therapies that I had read recommended that the hard area (bones around the eye socket) around the eyes be massaged with one's fingers on a regular basis, if one needs to get rid of lenses. The idea is to exercise and strengthen the eye muscles so that they feel relaxed.
I think among other things one of the things that this oil therapy does is also the same. The twitching makes ones eye muscles to be exercised. Its probably the same with eye drops that cause tearing. I know there are eye drops that claim to not bring tears to the eyes - this is good especially  for kids - but I think those eye drops are for cleansing the eyes only, not exercising them.


By the way, the Ayush therapy centers are probably run by franchisees, and the Ayush center brand has been in existence for some years now - launched by Unilever (then HLL) and AVP (Arya Vaidya Pharmacy). I also came across this board that greets visitors in the therapy center that I visit. I will leave you with these words of wisdom to think about.

How to understand stress:

To untie a knot, one must know how the knot was tied in the first place.
(Surangama Sutra)

Regional Passport Office: Another brush with the govt offices

My experiences with govt offices are far and few, but the experiences they create are enough to last a lifetime. The last time I had this experience was about 3 years ago when we had to visit the FRRO thrice in 3 days. This is already documented in this post ("Do it in 8" and other short stories from the FRRO)".

This time it was the passport office's turn because of the application of passport for my kid. I will document the exact procedure in a later post. But in this post it is sufficient to say that I had done an online registration, read the FAQ on the passport office's website, collected the documents and photocopies as required. I reached at  10 a.m. for my slot at 10:45 a.m. However, it was only at about 11:05 a.m. that I entered the hall. One more hour of wait, and I reached the counter for scrutiny of application and the supporting documents.

The lady at the counter asked me whether my wife had a passport, and I said it had expired. The lady asked me to note the number of my wife's passport, and attach photocopies. I had entered  my passport number on the form, and also attached the photocopies of my passport. I tried to reason saying that the form mentioned  that only valid passport, and besides, the form mentioned that EITHER of the parents'  passport details would do. But no. In India, our people love to have undocumented rules or even if they are documented, then hiding them so that these are difficult to find, and are discovered at run-time. So, I was ordered to  go away and come back with the photocopies of my wife's invalid passport. Another fun and exciting trip is definitely on, and I will post the experiences of day 2 for this passport application.

Just for the record, here's an image capture of the application form that states the parents' passport details. Also  note how the word EITHER is all upper-case and underlined to state its importance. But looks like to our govt officials, the word EITHER means something else. Also, notice how it states clearly that only "Valid Indian Passport" has to be considered.

Click to view larger size

I know for sure that in computer science, the  word EITHER means "either one or  the other or both". If it meant both, then most programs would start failing miserably. Imagine changing the meaning of boolean OR to boolean AND...

The Rs. 50 all-day Mumbai Suburban railway ticket

Out of curiosity, one weekend I bought the all-day Mumbai Suburban railway ticket. This costs Rs. 50 and is only valid within suburban Mumbai limits. The ticket is valid for the entire day until mid-night, and is valid on the Western, Central and Harbour lines. There is some confusion regarding the limits, but I guess these would be:

• Churchgate to Virar, on the Western line
• Mumbai CST to Karjat / Kasar, on the Central line
• Mumbai CST to Panvel, on the Harbour line

By "confusion", I mean to ask whether the ticket is valid on the Khopoli line (beyond Karjat), and if it is valid upto Dahanu Road  from Virar.

Update (2010-December-23): Today's  Times of India newspaper carried an advert specifying that Virar to Dahanu is covered as well. Take a look at the advert below. It also specifies that there are 3-day and 5-day tickets as well, and that these are for the 1st as well as 2nd class.

Click to view larger image

Update (2010-December-05): Here's a scan of the ticket. In railway parlance, it is also called as the "Tourist Ticket" (or more correctly the "Second Adult Tourist -1day Ticket").

Click to view a larger image

Shikari Shambu, Suppandi, and others

I received a huge cache of comics last week that I had ordered from Amar Chitra Katha. I had placed a couple of orders from the online store, and I have had no regrets so far.

It all started about a year ago when I had bought a Tinkle comic from a newspaper stand. I was reminded of my youth days when comics ruled the roost, and were a staple time pass for school vacations. Subsequently, I also found a digest of Suppandi stories. One thing led to another, and soon I found that there were other good collection sets available, but none available easily at newspaper stands. So the online shop came in handy. More sets of the Suppandi collection followed. Then, very recently I had ordered this set of Humor collection (Birbal,  Tenali Raman, Gopal) from the online store. And, by the way, shipping is free within Mumbai (done through DTDC couriers).

Here's a scan from a comic devoted to Shikari Shambu stories.

And one of the comics on Birbal contains the now standard Narayan Murthy quote:

"Amar Chitra Kathas are a glorious tribute to India’s rich cultural heritage. These books have been an integral part of my children’s early years, as they have been for many other families across India. Comics are a great way of reaching out to children, inculcating reading habits and driving their quest to learn more about our roots.”

A rather quiet Diwali

This year was one of  the quietest Diwalis that I have ever experienced in Mumbai. While it was quite some years back that I had stopped the bursting of noisy crackers, I was surprised  to observe that no one burst crackers from my society of 6 buildings - even on Lakshmi Puja day. And to keep the record spotless, none on Bhau Beej day either.

The trend seems to be the same in other parts of Mumbai. It does seem that children were being taught the cons of bursting crackers in school. And while that is a good thing for the environment and all, wonder what effect it will have on the child labor in Sivakasi and other parts where the crackers are actually manufactured.