Prizes announced for Top Blog Posts!

Three Quarks daily has announced awards for top blog posts in the fields of
Science; Literature and Arts; Politics and Philosophy.

Here is aportion from the announcement about the procedure they plan to follow:

"....About a month before the prize is to be announced we will solicit nominations of blog entries from our readers. The nominating period will last approximately one to two weeks. At the end of this time, we will open up the process to voting by our readers. After this period, we will take the top twenty voted-for nominees, and the four main daily editors of 3 Quarks Daily (Abbas Raza, Robin Varghese, Morgan Meis, and Azra Raza) will select six finalists from these, plus they may also add a wildcard entry of their choosing. And finally, a well-known intellectual from the field will pick the winner, runner up, and third place finisher from these, and will write some short comments on the winning entries.
Just for fun, the first place award will be called the "Top Quark," and will include a cash prize of one thousand dollars; the second place prize, the "Charm Quark," will include a cash prize of three hundred dollars; and the third place winner will get the honor of winning the "Strange Quark," along with two hundred dollars..."

The full text can be read at
http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2009/05/3-quarks-daily-announces-4-annual-blog-prizes.html

The Cause of the Carnatic Piano

I did not know until recently, as perhaps many others reading this post, that many "greats" among the carnatic musicians of yesteryear had used the Piano as an accompaniment to their singing.

Anil Srinivasan is a Champion ( the Tinkling Star among Carnatic Musicians) of the cause of the Carnatic Piano.

For more about the above, and Anil's vison and plans read the story from The Hindu (24 May 2009). Watch this space also for announcements about his concerts in future...


http://www.thehindu.com/mag/2009/05/24/stories/2009052450060200.htm

Revisiting Loved and ForgottenStories

This is a post on Pride and Prejudice, the film. It was such a delight to watch this film and feel Jane Austen's brilliant imagination at work, bringing to life each of her characters and with them the joys of the untamed English countryside.

Poems and other literary tributes have immortalised this landscape, yet it was like falling in love with beauty all over again.

In her skilful crafting of each of her characters, Jane Austen has also etched out the magnificence of the wilderness and the glamour of the unpolluted bite of fresh breeze and the green and grey wonderous hillside country.

I wish to read and take in once more the delight of Jane Austen's writing.

A Buck Does Stop There, Hackneyed

National Parties Myth and Reality.

I agree that there are logical arguments for both voting and abstaining from voting, as it is probably one of those undecidable logical questions. But having chosen to stand by the former process, I have some thoughts I'd like to share here.

I heard of an interesting strategy that a muslim progressive group is following. Their party is contesting in four constituencies in TN, including Ramanathapuram. They did not join the coalition with DMK because they were not given enough seats.But in a bid to keep non-secular parties out at any cost, they are promoting and consolidating the status of the DMK member in Ramanathapuram. It is paradoxical and perhaps a joke to some that they are campaigning against their own candidate, but perhaps common logic may not give satisfactory answers either.

While that stands there, I'd like to know why Barkha Dutt (read NDTV) is going on and on with the hackeneyed "National" versus " Regional " party descriptions when everyone knows that Congress and BJP are regional parties themselves (only they are confined to a certain "National-language" belt!).

The other aspect of this outdated thinking is that the south parties such as DMK PMK ADMK are referred to as non-ideology based , unlike the CPs, and hence they will move to the largest bidder. As arguments go - this is strange. It's another slavish feature of the english-speaking individuals that while they recognize Marx as an idealogue (and Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, and the Advani types) They have no thought of Periyar and Ambedkar, Muthulakshmi Reddy (just a sample, there are many more) and other important champions of dravidian liberation movements! It's quite ridiculous.

If I think this way, I almost don't beieve, almost but not quite, that there's any need to vote and prop up the democracy concept for the benefit of silly, progress-faking journalists like the NDTV and co...