Do you know:

That in 7.5 hours of sleep, you will sleep lightly for 60% of the time and deeply for 18%. you will dream for 20% of the time.

That by the age of four, Kim Ung-Yong of Korea (1963-)could speak fluent Korean, English, Japanese, German,and even solve calculus problems.

The last beheading in UK was on 9 April 1747. 80-year-old Simon Fraser was beheaded for treason at Tower Hill, London.

Fast food, tobacco and alcohol are pouring into India, promoting a consumer culture. India should beware. It must not repeat the mistakes of the West, says Andrée-Marie Dussault in his article entitled Cellphone and the Soul, in the Times of India, dated 24th January 2010. Andrée-Marie is a Delhi-based correspondent of a Swiss newspaper.

A sequel to Shri Matsya Narayana

Partha Desikan

If we have read the story of the saving of the Vedas by the direct intervention of the Infinite in the Matsya form and are informed that there could be slightly different versions of the story, if we have learnt that at least for the Matsya manifestation of the Lord, the faithful have built two large temples in India at different times, and if we are able to visit one of these temples and offer our loving homage, then what?

Shri Matsya Narayana

Partha Desikan

Gururgurutamo dhaama satyah satyaparaakramah |
Nimisho (a)nimishah sragvee vaachaspatir udaaradheeh ||
Agraneer graamaneeh shreemaan nyaayo netaa sameeranah |

The above three lines constitute the full shloka 23 and the first half of shloka 24 of Sri Vishnu Sahasranama from the Anushaasanika parva of Maharishi Vedavyasa’s ancient epic. The fifteen names numbering 211 to 225 of the Lord are covered by these lines.

1. The first name consists of two words, Guruh and Gurutamah. Together it means the greatest of Gurus.

The world is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while.

Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question, is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride…"

And we kill those people.

Having to do with Jayanth Kaikini's Ondu Jilebi

Partha Desikan

An inspiring contemporary young Kannada poet has recently published a collection of his poems and there was a formal release in Bangalore.

Sri Ashoka reviewed the book for The Hindu offering sincere tribute in sober terms, referring to the poet's humanism as well as his involvement with the here, now and the immediate.

The review has been reproduced below.

Humanism, in the lyrical mode

Ondu Jilebi by Jayanth Kaikini

Rama meets Sharad in the Woods

Partha Desikan

Yesterday was a special day. Throughout the world, followers of the Sikh path celebrated the birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev. It was Ashwin purnima if you computed your months according to the solar calendar and Kartik Purnima for the lunar month observers. Either way, it qualified as Sharad Purnima. Delhi and its neighbourhood had no rains for weeks, and the full moon on a reasonably clear sky would have met the expectations of visitors to Agra and the Taj Mahal or the pilgrims to Amritsar and the golden temple.

Cows, Commodities, Greenhouse Gases
Partha Desikan

Christopher Fry: "Between our birth and death we may touch understanding, As a moth brushes a window with its wing"

Take a handful of soil. Ask yourself, ‘Is it alive?’. Unless you are a poet the answer is anyone’s guess. You might remember your science teacher telling you about the various living organisms ranging from bacteria and virus to earth worms and caterpillar.