What is the black patch on the leather skin of either side of the Mrdidangam.

Paint? No.

From wikipedia -

“The bass aperture is known as the “thoppi” or “eda bhaaga” and the smaller aperture is known as the “valanthalai” or “bala bhaaga”. The smaller membrane, when struck, produces higher pitched sounds with a metallic timbre. The wider aperture produces lower pitched sounds. The goat skin covering the smaller aperture is anointed in the center with a black disk made of rice flour, ferric oxide powder and starch. This black tuning paste is known as the “sAtham” or “karanai” and gives the mridangam its distinct metallic timbre.” Link

Fascinating little entry.

Interesting video below via a friend’s Facebook update.

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I’m writing to seek help for an acquaintance, who was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) and urgently needs to find a Bone Marrow Donor that has to match her’s to survive. I could write a touching paragraph or two about how radiant and lively she is in person, and how her family is struggling against all odds to increase the registry of donors so that she can find a match, but the truth is someone is battling for their life, in circumstances beyond their control. Sonia’s survival is dependent on luck and statistics, the chances of finding a donor can be increased ONLY if maximum number of South Asians register for the Bone Marrow registry. Even if you are not South Asian, you can still help save a life by just registering so that other patients looking for a donor can find you, if you have a match with them.

Registering for the Bone marrow donor program needs ONLY YOUR TIME. And while, holiday schedules and other day activities may be of importance in general, please give a thought to the unfortunate family who’s hopes for their daughter’s survival rests on finding a random donor.

Please find more info on this site, and register for a drive near you.

http://www.curesonia.org/.

If you are not in a major city where there’s a drive going at a convenient location, please do check out the link here: http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/index.html

Source: http://www.nbc.com/the-apprentice/candidates/anand/

Viewers of the show – ‘The Apprentice’ may have seen Anand Vasudev in the recent episode, who was ‘fired’ for ‘bending the rules’.

Video below:

So I was notified of this incident by a friend, and I was half hoping to find this video, and obviously expecting racist rants in the comments section, well all I can say is – BINGO.

I’m not particularly amused by the fact that this contestant ‘cheated’ and whines in his exit interview about how other contestants also cheated in other ways, without being caught. I’m sure most of you  definitely don’t agree that he being a cheat should lead to any automatic conclusions about people with the same ethnicity.

From what it seems, the fired apprentice is not particularly remorseful -

From his exit interview:

Q) Did you agree with Trump’s rationale for your firing?
A) I don’t disagree with Mr. Trump’s decision to fire me, however I do wish he gave me a second chance. Mr. Trump’s history is well-documented, and he is the master at finding loopholes and bending rules in order to get to the top. That’s why he’s found so much success in his lifetime. I don’t think there’s anything morally wrong with what I did. I also tried to find a loophole in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Ambitious? Yes, Convincing? umm, not sure. But I guess in today’s corporate world, this is not the worst of the crimes though you have to be really thick skinned to be caught lying on national television, and not really give a damn about it.

And for the haters who will start commenting about Indians and their unscrupulous ways.

Born in Gainesville and raised in New Port Richey, Vasudev was laid off by a St. Petersburg real estate firm last year. He was hoping time on The Apprentice might make his job prospects brighter; considering how his time on the show ended, now he’s not so sure. Link.

Last year, we interviewed Prof. Ravi Shankar, from the Central Connecticut State University, who was arrested and imprisoned on a perceived traffic violation and had to spend 30 hrs in confinement.  This week he contacted us to inform that the city of New York ‘admitted culpability’ and he received a compensation that he says isn’t life changing ‘but it’s at least a measure of vindication’. The settlement details cannot be disclosed as per the rules, but there has been no apology for Prof. Shankar who was called ’sand nigger’ by the arresting officer.

The officer then put the professor up against a wall and proceeded to arrest him based on a warrant out for a man of the same name.

When put into the back of the police cruiser, Shankar reported one of the officers said “it’s always a good day when you can bag a sand nigger.”

Back at the police station Shankar learned that the warrant out for the man of the same name had a physical description of a 5-foot 10-inch white male weighing 140 pounds.

Dark skinned and 6-foot 2-inch, Shankar weighs 200 pounds.

Despite the obvious difference, Shankar was told to tell it to the judge and ultimately spent Friday and Saturday night in a crowded jail cell with an open bathroom and nothing but a cold hard floor to sleep on.

More details here – link

This is not intended to be a review.

*spoiler alert* Some points give away the story line of the movie.

Peepli Live is a slap fest. It’s a slap across the face, for today’s politicians, the government, it’s babus, their yojanas, and above all, the MEDIA and us, it’s viewers.

Live television has long crossed the boundaries of absurdity. An year ago, the CM of Andhra Pradesh (YS Rajashekar Reddy) passed away in a chopper crash, and the media created a mass hysteria among people and portrayed several hundred ‘shock deaths’ – death of many average souls, who died of shock when they heard the news. For a major part of the week, including the night of the disappearance of the chopper, the news channels went wild, especially the one owned by the CM’s son (and apparently the heir to the CM post in the next few years), broadcast images of people weeping inconsolably for a CM they most probably never saw in flesh and blood ever in their life. His popularity exaggerated and magnified a million fold, and gaining maximum political mileage out of a personal tragedy.

That is a tiny example of our mis-information age, and Peepli Live makes a satire of it. Farmer deaths is something we hear about everyday, (right after cricket, dynasty politics, Pakistan, world, Chinese made gadgets and 10 tips to improve our sex lives). The characters in the movie are in abject poverty, and their cuss words may make you laugh, or cringe, but they are pretty unfiltered.

In the first few minutes you hear a pair of newsreaders relaying the news about Shilpa Shetty, denying the rumor of an affair with Prince William. You thought that was exaggeration? Over an hour into the movie, a TV presenter is shown examining the poop of a person they are unable to get hold of, for a millionth interview.

Budhia, a simpleton who is talked into giving a statement about committing suicide, as he is about to lose his ancestral piece of land, is now on the run because the media had made a circus out of his life, and his tiny little home in an unknown rural town of Peepli. His half hearted suicide talk has become a national sensation, and everybody in an official position in the country, and the media, have a vested interest in his death.

The stress of this turn of events has given him a diarrhea, but the media won’t allow him to attend his ablutions in peace. If this doesn’t tell you something, then good. The real world media has done its job well. We have been desensitized, the level at which we can be shocked is so high up, that nothing trivial like suicides because of poverty, bother us anymore. We couldn’t do much about it anyway.

While the suspense of Budhia’s life or death is gripping the nation, Mahato is out digging a ditch to make money by selling the soil, and ironically, his weak body gives away and he dies in the very ditch he is digging. Nobody give’s a sh*t because they are busy analyzing Budhia’s sh*t.

The outcome of Budhia’s life doesn’t really matter anymore, there’s a wonderful 3 min scene about what ‘yojanas’ can help him. There’s one for widows, disabled and the destitute. But the only one Budhia qualifies for is either ‘Lal Bahadur’(a hand pump) or the 1 lakh compensation that his wife gets if he dies.
Again, a wonderful satire on how our national leaders have been idolized under different schemes (mostly for political purposes). There’s wonderful characterization of IAS level/Block development officers, who say nothing but, ‘yes sir’ to the minister. The educated secretary of Agriculture, who won’t do anything except wait for a court order, and the high rung politicians, for who, everything is just a political game. To get into power, and remain in power. Absolutely no other objective.

Peepli live is uncomfortably funny, has no songs, has exceptionally talented actors, is produced by Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao, and is a very simple and straight story that was born out of frustration with things that are wrong in India today including the media, which has long lost its original purpose of information, and fast moved into the world of entertainment. LIVE entertainment. And Peepli Live is a wonderful window that captures this in less than 2 hrs.