Poem of the week May 25

On the walls of a train on the London tube in 2001, sandwiched between 2 advertisements, I came across this poem.
I never forgot it.
It is a tamil poem, attributed to Chempulap-peineerar or Sembula Peyaneerar, a poet from the famous Sangam age of Tamil poets. The poem is found in the Kuruntokai, a collections [...]

“He doesn’t know who we are!” The Daily Show interviewed at the Paley Centre

They’re funny even when they’re serious, except Jon Stewart who sounds incredibly serious outside of the Daily Show. An interview at the Paley Centre in California with Jon Stewart , Colbert , Steve Carrell and writers of the Daily Show. This one’s about a guy’s conspiracy theory of orange juice.

Jon Stewart [...]

YDT: Yoga Dance Therapy

Through my own study and practice of yoga, I have come to understand how closely linked Indian classical dance is with yoga. Many of the postures, mudras and movements find their roots in asanas and pranayama. The preparation is not unlike the niyama preparation in Hatha Yoga. Most dances relate stories of the Divine such [...]

Forget Horror movies, here’s the US debt clock.

Saw this on The Big Picture, a blog run by Barry Ritholz, author of the recently released book “Bailout Nation”.
US Debt Clock

Poem of the week – May 18

Some funny poems this week. Since they’re pretty short, I added more than one.
“To Someone Who Insisted I Look Up Someone“
I rang them up while touring Timbuktu,
Those bosom chums to whom you’re known as “Who?”

X. J. Kennedy (Peeping Tom’s Cabin)

The Leader
I wanna be the leader
I wanna be the leader
Can I be the leader?
Can I? [...]

Re-sasti-cate

Came across these explanations for the meaning of the following words:
resusticate: re+ susti+ cate, now susti in hindi means cheap, so when something is made cheaper again, it is usually to revive the use of something.  For example, if government makes khadi cheaper in prefereance to cotton, it is to revive its use amongst citizens. [...]

Poem of the week May 11

Early last week, on May 4th or 5th, I had decided to post a Tagore poem for this week’s “Poem of the Week”. I was delighted to discover yesterday, May 9th, that it was Tagore’s birthday by the Indian calendar.
Tagore translated many of his poems into English. In fact, that is how he won the [...]

ENG 371WR: Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era

This was posted on Facebook by a friend. I had to blog, tweet and FB status this course. Brilliantly funny.

ENG 371WR: Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era
Source: www.mcsweeneys.net
Course Description. As print takes its place alongside smoke signals, cuneiform, and hollering, there has emerged a new literary age, one in which writers no longer need [...]

And now for some good news

We’re surrounded everyday by negative news – murders, fires, rapes, disasters, theft.  And then we wonder how to break out of the vicious cycle of negativity.
Well, here’s an opportunity. NPR recently did a story on the Good News Network. You can hear it here.
http://tinyurl.com/d5mkuw
Or you can read good news directly on these web sites.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org
http://www.goodnewsdaily.com

Poem for the week – May 3

In 1997, on a trip to the UK, I chanced upon a poem by Carol Ann Duffy that has been, since I first read it, one of my favourite poems. I had planned to post it last week, but decided instead to do so this week.
It is haunting, it is beautiful, it is soft. It [...]