dsubrahmanyam's blog

Hello everyone again.

This photo needs no introduction I believe. Who does not know this lady? Who has not heard her famous venkateshwara suprabhatam, Vishnu Sahastranamam, Meera Bhajans, Bhajagovindam, or many of her classical renderings ? Yes my friends I am talking of M.S. Subbalakshmi, the great carnatic classical vocalist. This is a brief life sketch of M.S. and my tribute to this great lady of music.

�

Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi popularly known as M.S. Subbalakshmi or simply M.S was born in to a musical family on Spetember 16, 1916, in temple town Madurai, Tamilnadu. Her parents were Subramanya Iyer and Veena Vidushi Shanmukavadivu, a renowned singer and player of the veena. Her younger brother and sister also shared their mother’s love of music; her brother played the mridangam and her sister became a singer. M.S was affectionately �known as Kunjamma to the near and dear at home. M.S started learning music at a early age. She used to accompany her mother at concerts. She released her first recording at an early age of 10 years.

�

Her first guru of music was her mother and then at a later stage she began her Carnatic classical music training under Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer who taught her up to the varnam stage and then Hindustani classical training under Pandit Narayan Rao Vyas.

�

By age 17, M.S. was giving concerts on her own, including major performances at the Madras Music Academy, where she made her musical debut. Since then, she performed countless musical forms in different languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Sanskrit and Kannada.At the age of 24, she married T. (Thyagarajan) Sadasivam who has devoted himself to advancing her career. Sadasivam, publisher and managing director of Kalki, the widely circulated and highly respected Tamil weekly, was a film director and thus particularly well situated to assist her career through that medium. Their marriage spanned over 50 years but they had no children.

�

Two fortuitous events brought M.S. early into national prominence. The first was her participation in the All-India Dance Conference in Bombay, organized under the Vikramaditya Celebrations, in 1944. Every Indian musician of importance was present and her performance created a sensation. The second was her appearance in the title role of the Hindi-language film Meera, produced by her husband. �The film was produced in 1946-47 in Rajputana and the villagers in the area saw M.S as a “new Meera.� �The movie had M.S. sing the famous Meera bhajans, with Dilipkumar Roy as the music director. Those renditions by M.S. continue to enthrall listeners to this day. Although Meera was her first and only Hindi film, she has played in Tamil films both before and since, including a Tamil version of Meera.

�

M.S. travelled to London, New York, Canada, the Far East, and other places as India’s cultural ambassador. Her concerts at Carnegie Hall, New York; the UN General Assembly on UN day in 1966 (while U Thant was the Secretary General); the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1982; and at the Festival of India in Moscow in 1987 were significant landmarks in her career.

In 1941 M.S and her husband visited Mahatma Gandhi at his religious retreat in Nagpur. Thereafter whenever she and he were in the same city she sang at his prayer meetings. Gandhi loved her rendition of bhajans and requested that she sing some for his 78th birthday, October 2, 1947. As she couldn’t appear in person, All India Radio suggested she record some discs and have them sent to Delhi where he was in residence. Gandhi particularly wanted to hear “Hari Tuma Haro” whose haunting refrain translates, “Oh Lord, take away the pain from mankind.” Not knowing this bhajan she suggested another singer, but he refused, saying he would rather hear her speak the words than another sing them. M.S learned and recorded the song the night of September 30th, finishing at 2 a.m. The disc, sent off by plane, was played on what was to be Gandhi’s last birthday. Three months later he was dead by an assassin’s bullet. When the announcement of his death was reported over the radio, it was followed by the playing of M.S�s recording of “Hari Tuma Haro.”

In the late 1950s, as she sang at the Ramakrishna Ashram in Delhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, was among the audience. At the end of the recital he was so moved that he bowed, and said, “What am I, a mere prime minister before a queen of music (he was to repeat it in every speech of his, praising her).” He rarely missed her concerts.

Sarojini Naidu, dubbed her the “Nightingale of India,” and added: “Every child in India has heard about SUBBULAKSHMI for the beauty of her voice, the magic of her personality, and the gracious charity of her heart . . . . I want my living words to go to the utmost corners of the world so that people may realize how one great woman artist in India has been able to move the hearts of millions and millions of men and women by her songs. I believe the feelings roused in me will be roused in everyone who hears the enchanting voice of this enchanting singer who is abundantly gifted.”

While Lata Mangeshkar called her Tapaswini (the Renunciate), Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan termed her Suswaralakshmi (the goddess of musical notes), and Kishori Amonkar labeled her the ultimate eighth note or Aathuvaan Sur, which is above the seven notes basic to all music.

She was widely honored, praised and awarded. Some of them more popular ones include Padma Bhushan in 1954, Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1968 (literally, Treasure Chest of Music. She was the first woman recipient of the title), Ramon Magsaysay award in 1974, the Padma Vibhushan in 1975, the Kalidasa Sanman in 1988, the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration in 1990, and the Bharat Ratna in 1998 (first musician to receive this award). She was also honored as the court-singer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.

Not unexpectedly, “she talks, sings and lives music twenty-four hours a day,” and is deeply religious. The puja (prayer) room in her house has three life-size portraits of Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Sankaracharya, the saint whom she calls “divinity in flesh and blood,” and who has “been instrumental in restoring the faith and religious temperament of the people of Madras and reclaiming many to the path of God” in recent years. As her guru, he selected the verses for the highly popular record she made in 1970 of the Bhajagovindam (some 30 verses composed by the poet-philosopher Sankara in praise of Lord Krishna, which are both musical and of much philosophical content) and Vishnu Sahasranamam (a musical chant of the 1,000 names of Vishnu).

The other phase of the career that has endeared SUBBULAKSHMI to her countrymen is that of using her voice to raise money for good causes. M.S. has given more than 200 benefit performances and raised well over Rs. 10,000,000 for various Indian charities.

�

With the death of her husband Sadasivam in 1997, she stopped all her public performances. M.S. died on December 11, 2004 after a brief illness, due to complications relating to pneumonia and cardiac irregularities.

�

Though this great personality is is no more with us, her music is with us forever. She is among those who live even after� their death. I am one of those fortunate people to see this lady at close quarters. I thank god for this opportunity.

It was she who murdered many and got away with it. Her victims spread all over the globe, from middle east to London, America Russia etc. Her victims include aristocrats, beautiful dames, old ladies and what not. Tools she used for the crimes also varied very much from cyanide, ice prick, thallium, simple nylon thread, or even a gentle push. Every time she killed people went mad. They wanted more of her killings and enjoyed her murders.

You must be wondering about whom I am talking of. Many of the book lovers must have, by this time guessed it too. Yes friends I am talking of that great Mystery queen, Queen of Crime, Dame Agatha Christie.

�

Agatha Christie was born Devon to an America father and English mother. She had her education at home from governess and never had any schooling. Her first book Mysterious Affairs at Styles was published in the year 1920 in which she created memorable Hurcule Piorot a Belgium detective, has created a sensation in the crime fiction. From that time she has written about 80 mystery novels,. She also wrote romantic novels under pseudo name Mary Westmacott. �She also wrote many short stories. Her other dectective was an old lady called Miss Maple who stays in a small village and solves the curious murder mysteries around the place.

�

Her appeal is so huge that Christie is often called–by the Guinness Book of World Records, among others - the best-selling writer of fiction of all time, and the best-selling writer of any kind second to William Shakespeare. An estimated billion copies of her novels have been sold in English, and another billion in 103 other languages.. As an example of her broad appeal, she is the all-time best-selling author in France, with over 40 million copies sold in French (as of 2003) versus 22 million for Emile Zola, the nearest contender.

�

Her stage play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest run ever in London, opening at the Ambassadors Theatre on November 25, 1952, and as of 2006 is still running after more than 20,000 performances. In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America’s highest honor, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year, Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA, for Best Play. Most of her books and short stories have been filmed, some many times over (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, 4.50 From Paddington), and most have also been adapted for television and radio.

Her first marriage, an unhappy one, was in 1914 to Colonel Archibald Christie, an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps. The couple had one daughter, Rosalind Hicks, and divorced in 1928. �In 1930, Christie married a Roman Catholic (despite her divorce), the archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan. Mallowan was 14 years younger than Agatha, and her travels with him contributed background to several of her novels set in the Middle East. Their marriage was happy in the early years, and endured despite Mallowan’s many affairs in later life, notably with Barbara Parker, whom he married in 1977, the year after Agatha’s death. Other novels (such as And Then There Were None) were set in and around Torquay, Devon, where she was born. Christie’s 1934 novel, Murder on the Orient Express was written in the Pera Palas hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, the southern terminus of the railroad. The hotel maintains Christie’s room as a memorial to the author.

Agatha Christie died on January 12, 1976, at age 85 from natural causes, at Winterbrook House, Cholsey near Wallingford, Oxfordshire. She is buried at St. Mary’s Churchyard in Cholsey, Oxon.

Christie’s only child, Rosalind Hicks, died on October 28, 2004, also aged 85, from natural causes. Christie’s grandson, Mathew Prichard, now owns the royalties to his grandmother’s works.

Whatever we write about this lady is still insufficient. The books she wrote are the proof of her greatness. Many movies including some of the bollywood hits are based on her books. (Remember GUMNAAM? It is based on the Agatha Christie�s And then there were none (also published under the title Ten Little Niggers).

I am a very big fan of this writer and I am sure one u start reading her book u will also be the same. What ur waiting for?? Go and grab one of them and start reading. J �

�

�

�

Everybody is the scientific world is aware of Stephen Hawking and his contribution to�physics in general and to�Cosmology in�Particular.
He is considered as the best Physcist and cosmologist alive today. He Occupies the seat of Lucassian professor of Mathematics at the Cambridge University which was earlier occupied by many great scientists like Sir Issac Newton and Paul Dirac.
This blog is for those who are little aware of this great personality and his his contribution.

Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford on 8 January 1942 to Frank and Isobel Hawking. He had two younger sisters, Philippa and Mary, and an adopted brother, Edward. From the age of 11, he attended St Albans School. He applied to study mathematics at University College, Oxford, but ended up studying physics there instead. He read for his PhD at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

Hawking is severely disabled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS (a type of motor neuron disease commonly known in the United States as Lou Gehrig’s disease).�
Symptoms of the disorder first appeared while he was enrolled at Cambridge. He lost balance and fell downstairs, hitting his head. Worried of losing his genius, he took the Mensa International test, to verify that his intellectual abilities were intact. Diagnosis came when Hawking was 21, shortly before his first marriage, and doctors said he would not survive more than two or three years. He battled the odds and has survived much longer than most sufferers of ALS, although he has become increasingly disabled by the gradual progress of the disease.

He gradually lost the use of his arms, legs, and voice, and is now almost completely paralysed. The computer system attached to his wheelchair is operated by Hawking via an infra-red ‘blink switch’ clipped onto his glasses. By scrunching his right cheek up, he is able to talk, compose speeches, research papers, browse the World Wide Web and write e-mail. The system also uses radio transmission to provide control over doors in his home and office. Despite his disease, he describes himself as “lucky” � not only has the slow progress of his disease provided time to make influential discoveries.

Hawking’s principal fields of research are theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity. Another Contribution by Hawking to cosmology is the proposal for the Black hole formation after the Big Bang. Hawking developed a model in which the Universe had no boundary in space-time.

Hawking’s belief that the average person should have access to his work led him to write a series of popular science books in addition to his academic work. The first of these,A Brief History of Time was published on April 1,1988 and became a documentary in 1991 starring Hawking, his family and friends, and some leading physicists. It surprisingly became a best-seller and was followed by The Universe in a Nutshell (2001). Both books have remained highly popular all over the world.

In addition the above, he has published many scientific and technical papers which earned him money and fame. His plans to write a science book aimed for childern will defenitely give all the childern a requried enthusiasm for opting science as�their major.�

Let’s hope god will give him more life so that human species can�be benifited.���

Hi all again!!
Adolf Hitler is a well known personality to all of us for is heinous acts on humanity. He is the man behind the genocide of 11 million people including about 6 million Jews. This part of the history is well known to many and is documented in many of the books. What less known of Hitler is the reason for this blog.

The German origin of Adolf Hitler it self is a debatable issue. Hitler was born on 20th April 1889 in a small town in Upper Austria close to Germany border. He is claimed to be one quarter Jewish (!!) as his grandmother got pregnant while working as a servant in a Jewish family.

During the childhood Hitler did fairly well in his elementary studies but in 6th grade during his first year high school studies he failed completely and had to repeat the grade again. The reason for this failure was explained by Hitler as a kind of rebellion against his father. He wanted to be a painter instead of a customs official as desired by his father. At the age of 16 he left the school without any educational qualifications.

He was rejected twice by Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna due to unfitness for painting. and was told that his abilities more in the field of architecture than painting. Hitler himself wrote about his  fascination with the subject in his memoirs

“The purpose of my trip was to study the picture gallery in the Court Museum, but I had eyes for scarcely anything but the Museum itself. From morning until late at night, I ran from one object of interest to another, but it was always the buildings which held my primary interest.” (Mein Kampf, Chapter II)

He decided to pursue architecture as his profession but due to lack of required qualification to join the institution he could not fulfill his ambition.

“In a few days I myself knew that I should some day become an architect. To be sure, it was an incredibly hard road; for the studies I had neglected out of spite at the Realschule were sorely needed. One could not attend the Academy’s architectural school without having attended the building school at the Technic, and the latter required a high-school degree. I had none of all this. The fulfillment of my artistic dream seemed physically impossible.”“(Mein Kampf, Chapter II)

When he was 21 he started his career as a struggling painter in Vienna by copying the scenes from post cards and selling them to merchants and tourists. (See picture. This one of the water color paintings done by Hitler during this time) It is said that he produced more than 2000 paintings and drawings before World War I.

He was declared unfit for working in army by Austrian army after his physical examination (he was around 173 cm or 5ft 8 in) and deemed unfit for service in army !!

Most of Hitler’s biographers have characterized him as a vegetarian who abstained from eating meat though he did consume dairy products and eggs. Hitler was also a fervent non-smoker and promoted aggressive anti-smoking campaigns throughout Germany. He reportedly promised a gold watch to any of his close associates who quit (and actually gave a few away). Several witness accounts relate that, immediately after his suicide was confirmed, many officers, aides, and secretaries in the F�hrerbunker lit cigarettes. Contrary to popular accounts, there seems to be some evidence that Hitler did not abstain entirely from alcohol. Evidence indicate that he used to consume champagne with his longtime mistress  Eva Braun whom he married one day before their suicide.

From struggling painter to the Great Dictator a long journey! His life is really an interesting reading for everyone interested in history.

During his reign he appeared in and involved films to varying degrees. He was central figure in 3 films which were documentaries and in another film Olympia he featured prominently.
His memoirs Mein Kempf is reflection of his many unknown characteristics and evolution of his thinking and is worth a reading.