Sunday, November 23, 2008

Sanskritam Sambhashanam shibiraha

Hi Folks,
I am writing this blog after a long time, as I was busy as a bee working day-in and day-out to finish a chip, which you may see sometime in 2010 time frame. Anyway, Now I am a bit free to put in some time for my love- Sanskrit.
In Bangalore I got an opportunity to attend a shibir (course) conducted to promote the Sanskrit Speaking (Sambhanshanam).

About the Shibiraha:
It was a 2-day shibira conducted by the Veda Vigyan Gurukul Students (this was a collaborated effort from Samskrit Bharathi, Samskrit lovers, It Milan). I got to know about this from my friend and attended it. About 15 people from different backgrounds had attended the course. The course was organised by the volunteer from the group called "IT Milan". The course spanned from 9 AM to 5 PM on both days. 2 Gurus' from Veda Vigyan Gurukul had come to impart the knowledge of Sanskrit.
Few of the participants were Sr. Managers' of the Software companies, few were from the semiconductor industry (off course this includes me!!!) and few were retired. The Gurus' made speaking Sanskrit and understanding it look easy and simple.
They touched upon only the "Prathamapurusha" and "Uttamapurusha" verbs, nouns and pronouns, that gave breathing space in understanding the subject to many of us who attended. The target was to impart the vocabulary needed for day-to-day activities and use them regularly. This helped many of us to co-relate things and enjoy.
We spoke in Sanskrit, we wrote short stories, our daily activity, gags and even had a session of jokes in sanskrit.
It was a good 2-days that I have spent and I really mean it. It was nice talking to different people, who shared their experience with the language, work, other activities...
For me learning sanskrit is a passion/desire/fun/enjoyment and such doses of nectar is always great to relish.

Looking ahead:
There is going to be a Big Samskrit Shabha being organised at Karkala, about 40kms. from Udupi from 26 Dec-28 Dec 2008.
Hope of getting more doses of this nectar.

Enjoy reading and learning things,
Raviraj

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Anger management

I read an article in TOI, yesterday, on Aamir Khan resorting to Smoking due to stress. This made me think about the stress and the results of it. The first thing that came to my mind is that stress affects is our relationship with the people, behaviour with people around us and many more. I cannot talk more on the relationship, behaviour as I am not that great in psychology and related elements but yes I can say something on Anger (mostly the Outburst of our thoughts).
Someone has rightly quoted,
"Anger is one word short of DAnger"
I wonder how true it is!!. Anger could be triggered by stress, lack of sleep, crash diets and insufficient water intake. While browsing I found some stuff mentioned by Dr. Anjali Chhabria, Psychiatrist, Mumbai and thought of sharing this with you all. This is what the expert/(I) had(have) to say on ANGER...

HOW CAN WE REDUCE ANGER?
  • Practice relaxation exercises and breathing techniques to calm the mind and body. (In yoga there is a kind of Prayanama called Bastrika; short and quick bursts of inhale and exhale)
  • Learn to resolve conflicts through effective communication minus outbursts.
  • Use problem-solving techniques such as goal setting and time management to reduce stress levels.
  • Eating well and at regular intervals helps to keep energy levels in check. (Avoiding Sugars and taking in Proteins might Help)
  • Get at least 6-8 hours of sleep, so that you don’t feel irritable and grouchy.
  • Take a break when you’re tired. This can help you rejuvenate.
  • Keep yourself upbeat by indulging in a hobby.
  • Compartmentalise your work and personal lives.
  • Nurture your support systems, like family and friends.
  • Regular exercise helps to keep the mind and body fresh.
  • Seek counselling for interpersonal conflicts. (Best person for this can be your Mom/Spouse/friends)
  • Be assertive instead of aggressive.

STRATEGIES TO CONTROL AGGRESSION
  • Accept that being angry is perfectly normal.
  • Identify your source/trigger of anger. I Shift your focus from ‘what was done to me’ to ‘what I can do’.
  • Create positive self-talk.
  • Identify your irrational beliefs.
  • Think of a more rational and adaptive plan of action.
  • Change thoughts that provoke anger, interpreting the situation from a different (less provocative) point of view.
  • Write down angry thoughts.
  • Focus on gratitude — make a list of things you are thankful for.

Enjoy Stress/Anger Free life.
Cheers!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Lets Samskrit them All...

I am a lover of my religion, culture, country and our history. I admire these and I think learning Samskrita would take me one step close to understanding it.

I have started taking the course on Samskrita from the distance learning education programme provided by Samskrita Bharati. They have one of the best methods of teaching this ancient language to the amateur samskrit students.

There is a lot of data available through Wikipedia. I found few few stuff on Samskrita on net for beginners. There are sites like Samskrita Bharati, Samskrita Samsthan. There is wide variety of data collection in Samskrita documents available in net. Some Vedic literature can be found in Bhakti-vedanta site. Samskrit slokhas and stotras are available.


Hurray!!!

Finals at End Point Ground: 6-June 2008

We (Inter Milan) had won two of our league matches 1-0 and were into the finals to play against Manchester United.

The rain tried to play spoil-sport. Until the previous night there were no signs of rain, but on the match day morning it poured heavily. More than our players I would thank the opposition players as they insisted on playing, as otherwise their captain had other ideas. After many discussions we made certain changes to the field and goal posts, so that we can play.


For the finals, we had a game plan of playing the first 5 minutes with less intensity; meaning just send the ball on first pass and then suddenly attack the opposition. As per the positioning of players is concerned, we did not change much. The position chalked out were Kiran and Bahubali as forwards, Praveen and Nikhil as left and right out's, Myself and Prashant in the midfield (Centre Halves), in the back were Guru, Prasad and Subhash/Mithun and most importantly Prajesh at the Goal post.

As soon as the game started we were in bad position as the ball went past the half line on our side a few times more than I expected. After 5 minutes into the play our big players Kiran, Bahubali along with Nikhil and Prasad made strong moves on the field. We attacked the ball and were able to send the ball near the goal post but were unable to convert even a single of them. I think the ground being damp and wet made the difference. Scores at the end of 1st half struck 0-0.


In the second half we had many chances than the first one. I miscued a couple of chances. We lost almost lost 2 sure-shot chances in first half and 3 in the latter half. Their attack to end was very good but the ball could reach our goal-keeper only a couple of times, this explains about our defense.
At the end of play the scores were level to 0-0.

The referees Vishwas and Vinod decided to sort the scores via the penalty shoot-out. And suddenly this turned out to be the most interesting part of the match. At BVB Nikhil was goal-keeper playing for Electronics and Communication department, and so the strategy to play him as keeper paid the dividends. The line-up for the shoot-out was Bahubali, Prajesh, Kiran, Nikhil and finally myself/Prasad. Bahu turned the first hit into a goal, while Sandeep (from the other team) lost his first shoot and this made a lot of difference. Nikhil scored the other goal to make us the Champions. We won the match 2-1.

Kudos to the team on this achieving this feat.

Many Congratulations to ManU who played really well compared to their previous performances. Last but not the least, I would like to thank the Referees, the Organizing committee, the tournament Sponsor KarMic Design Centre.

Note: The team names were just choosen for fun and there lies no harmful/criminal intentions. They are proprietary to the football teams Inter Milan and Manchester United.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Fingerstyle Guitar Lessons

Guitar Lesson1

Guitar Lesson1

Hi All,
This is a Lesson, I found in one of the site.
Watch out this area for more such things.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

OMKARA

yESTERdAY mE n mY Friends had been to watch OMKARA. Though the movie reviewers have voted it to be good, frankly speaking I didn't enjoy watching it, atleast the most part of it.


Saif's character and role is great. Ajay too looks great in his language and accent as a UP guy. These are the only 2 positives that I can see out of this movie. The slangs are too much to hear in a single movie. Bips is said to be in special appearence, but the time space alloted is more than the main herione Miss KK. The only character who has not used a slang is Miss. KK and hence I think her role is very short.
In this era of music and dance, this doesn't fit even to a small mm of an inch.

What you guys think???