Impressions - Latent imagery

237 houses built for Karnataka Flood Victims by Art of Living Karnataka

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 07:54:00 +0000

Overview of flood relief work carried out in North Karnataka:

v Short Term Relief:

ü 55 temporary houses were built using 2 tons of steel and 4 tons of Bamboos at Uppara Village, Sindhanuru Taluk, Raichur District.

ü To provide clean drinking water, 440nos. of TATA Swach’ water filters were procured for distribution, where 150 filters for Khairwadagi, 130 for Ingalagi and 160 to Hebballi were allotted for distribution.

v Long Term Relief:

ü As a long term approach of rehabilitation, VVKI entered into an agreement with the Government of Karnataka in November 2009. with the cooperation of the corporate companies like Bosch, Yahoo, Times foundation, Art of Living Volunteers and few others joined hands with us for this noble cause of building 237 no. of houses for the benefit of a section of those who were displaced due to floods in started at Khairwadgi & Hebballi , Bagalkot District.

Unspoken

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:31:00 +0000

Every night
i talk to a wall.
she stood unseen,
whispering,
one word at a time,
on the other side.

the bricks chipped,
so did the time,
weathered plight,
cracks to crevices,
anonymous chimes,
pinhole light
kissed my eyes
in glee.

anxious,
for a forgotten smile,
for a time together,
to be there beside,
as i looked inside

she splits the cracked wall,
opened up for me.
comes through,
while i close my eyes,
in my dream.

shadows

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 19:51:00 +0000

into the shadows
i dissolve,
elasticized, paralysed
shortened and weakened
by the beacon of lights,
kept angled far high .

in the shadows i feel,
that the truth is naked
but blinded and attired
by hues of people
who made rules and cues
for rest un-accused.

the world is perplexed,
by the weak the strong, talks and shouts.
glued to TV, twitter and screens
opinions, rage, words-said-carefree,
minds are battered and tattered,
while the corrupt roam free.

in the shadows i hope,
a light will dawn from up above.
break the angles and triangle,
the shambles of hoards and keep,
and take my country by a storm,
and leave darkness behind me.

I object Mr Shekhar Kapoor

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:29:00 +0000

Today, came across SHEKHAR KAPOOR'S comment on MF Husain and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, where he puts across the point that The guru shouldn't have let go of his all encompassing love aura by commenting on an expression of art that MF Husain did to portray purity.

I vehemently object his views for the sole reason he doesn't know what wound Mf husain inflicted on the people of India. before writing this piece, shekhar should have done his research well. He spells Sri Sri ravi Shankar as Shree Shree Ravi Shankar & MF husain as MF Hussein. For god Sake, he is a script writer and columnist and how can we take take it seriously when he cant even get the names right.

So here is my letter to Him,

My dear Shekhar,

Ram, Sita, Ganesh, Saraswati and other Goddesses are venerated by the masses of this country. The masses I refer to you are not the people who would have watched the movies that you have made or know about your academy award nomination or your anti british controvery that you generated.

These are people who make food for the country and whose source of strength is the small temple in their village where they find solace and strength in their gram devta or local deity.

I am Sure, you don't understand what i am talking about. may be these lyrics will help you understand the essence of what i mean to say:

1) oh paalanhaare from lagaan

2) Pal Pal hain Bhari from the Movie- swades : prounounciation : Swa- Desh ( dont rhyme it out like "Blades")

May be i should put it like this,

how did feel when you Walked the red carpet at the academy award or when you had stroked the deal with Richard branson for Virgin comics? A sense of contentment; right?

That's what the people of my country get from small temples where these gods and goddesses are worshiped. and painting them nude and in vulgar poses is definitely no depiction of purity.

To understand the sentiments of people of India who are aghast by this painters depiction and whose voice is not carried you will really need to go down to the countries heart. Instead the same media which has poked the grassroots sadly carries opinions of the so called intellectual secularist and beer farts whose only job is to comment from hundreds miles away and gets paid for cursing and ridiculing its own people.

Therefore don’t make a hero out of this jerk artist who the country never adopted ( till he turned 90+) until he managed to poke the sentiments of the people whose voices are never heard and whose opinions are never carried.

Sri Sri Statements, of course has nothing to do with Art. he said, "It is the intention behind a man's creativity which is questionable." He carries the voice of invisible people of my country whose contribution and whose self esteem, faith and belief matter for the progress of the country. And A spiritual Leader cannot turn a blind eye to it or say "Chalta Hain"

I don want to end it like a letter because i don expect a reply to it from you Sir,

I hope you will not use MF husain as a source of inspiration for the Ramayana graphic series that I believe you are producing.

Thank you!
--

PS :

please find Sri Sri's Statement from its source as you might have missed the point due to editors cut.

It's unfortunate that there is much hue and cry about M F Husain giving up Indian citizenship. While India has a policy of free expression, one cannot accept blatant insult to the heroes of its land. It is the intention behind a man's creativity which is questionable.

In one of Husain's paintings of Mahatma Gandhi, Karl Marx, Albert Einstein and Hitler, he has painted only Hitler nude and said that his way of humiliating a person is to paint him nude. Caught in his own words, his intention is to humiliate. No one has ever sculpted Rama and Sita as nude. Creative expression is always welcome. No country has been as liberal as India, especially Hindus. But there is a limit to tolerance and taking insults. Any nude woman could have been painted by him but calling the women Sita, Lakshmi, Saraswati shows his perversion and hatred.

Will M F Husain show the same creativity and the same spirit with Islamic heroes and would he, then, be able retain his Qatari citizenship? One fails to understand how we can have different criteria for Salman Rushdie and Taslima Nasreen on the one hand and M F Husain on the other. Will the same people who support him, encourage him to paint women / men of his faith in a similar manner?

Double standards, bias and hatred do not go well with men of excellence.

Guruji Addresses Farmers in Assam

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:46:00 +0000

Bongaingoan (Assam). February 18, 2010:
Over one lakh rural population from seven troubled districts of lower Assam turned up at the inauguration of the three-day Kisan Mela at the Gomath field to hear Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s message of peace and love.

Inaugurating the Kisan Mela – a training programme for local farmers, Sri Sri said,” Our country is a land of rishis and krishis. If they are miserable the society and country will suffer. We should adopt zero-budget and chemical free-farming. There is also an urgent need to preserve local seeds. Assam being rich in medicinal plants, we should grow more of them.”

The training programme has experts from the Sri Sri Institute of Agricultural Sciences And Technological Trust, Bengaluru, who will impart training to local farmers on chemical-free and zero-budget farming.

For commercial use of the photographs contact : media(dot)coordinator(@)artofliving.org

Sri Sri Inaugurates an Exhibition on Sikhism

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:49:00 +0000

Sri Sri inaugurating an Exhibition on “Sikhism - As the Defender of Indian Dharma”
©art of living. for commercial use of the photograph please contact media(dot)coordinator(@)artofliving.org

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on a clean Kolkata drive

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:01:00 +0000

Kolkata. February 11, 2010: Kolkata had a surprise garbage picker on Thursday late afternoon – the revered Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living Foundation.

The Guru of Joy selected the City of Joy to extend his concept of community service to direct hands-on garbage cleaning. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar embarked on shoveling garbage from the once-famed Lily Pool in the Rabindra Sarobar area of South Kolkata. Lily Pool is a three-acre garden directly across Bengal Rowing Club adjacent to the rise of the Lake Gardens flyover. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was joined in the clean-up by 175 youth volunteers of the Art of Living Foundation.

Emphasizing on the need to bring about environment awareness Sri Sri said, “No one single agency or authority can undertake this mission. We need all to join hands so that together we make a difference. ”

The Art of Living Foundation is committed to the cause of environment sustainability. As part of it Mission Green Earth initiative, it has planted over 55 million trees worldwide. Art of Living’s other environmental initiatives include rain-water harvesting projects, zero-budget organic and chemical-free farming, its campaign against genetically modified seeds and river clean-up initiatives among others.

For more information on the subject, please contact mediainterface(@)artoflivingabc(dot)org

'Art of Living' must for Thackeray family: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:36:00 +0000

fullstory

New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) Taking a jibe at Shiv Sena and MNS for their campaign against "outsiders" in Maharashtra, spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar today advised the Bal Thackeray family to "strictly" follow his Art of Living regimes in order to calm their nerves.

"Thackeray parivaar ko Art of Living ki sakht zaroorat hai (The Thackeray family strictly need Art of Living lessons)," Ravi Shankar told reporters here.

Emphasising "India's unity is India's strength", the spiritual guru stressed that unity cannot be put on stake for "trivial" issues, referring to the ongoing controversy over the growing conglomeration of migrants in Mumbai.

"The war of words is only complicating matters instead of resolving them. We should look at a united India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari," he said.

Mile sur Mera Tumhara. Did it?

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:50:00 +0000

Before you read please see the full version of the song here :

http://www.zoomtv.in/videos/India-sings-again-with-launch-of-Phir-Mile-Sur/8266

In You Tube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstRrEmTcBc

"Did Sur actually Mila?" in the latest version of the Mile Sur mera tumhara? To make it short and to the point I would say: NO! It has made it so filmy and too plastic for my liking.

The new version percussions dominates the epic song and dissected and shamelessly replaced Lata Mangeshkar melodic rendition with Deepika Pudokone's long legs, lip syncing to the lyrics sung by some playback singers ( quite living up to its title, 'Mile Sur Mera tumhara'), common man with film actors ( more bollywood and namesake south) and compromised many of India's beautiful landscapes for film studios with actors doing their normal filmy slow motion gestures.

Bringing the younger Shankars, the Aman Ali's, Krishnamurthis, Shivkumar & Yesudas, dance maestro Shobhana and few other iconic artists was the only reprieve in this video.
The video ends with few glimpses of our defense forces and few new sportsmen who made it big with their own effort and not from the support of the nation.

After watching it I have ended up in questions.

Why Shahid Kapoor did did his Kaminey act in the song? Why did Shah Rukh Khan reenact his 1 billion Airtel pose? Why did Aamir khan tried to mix "aey"from aati kya kandala song & education theme together? How Sharmila shitty did became the face for alternate energy in

India

? If they could avoid 37 year old Sachin Tendulkar from the song, why didn't they ignore the junior Bachhan and junior Bachhans old wife? Where are the farmers of

India

in it whose contribution matters to this Nation and whose food we all eat? What about Chaurasia and our own Indian Flute go? Why was ehsaan playing an unplugged electric guitar in the middle of nowhere? Why rural

India

was completely ignored in the video? Where did our Peacock, Tiger, Lotus and Ashoka chakra go? Why did it not represent

India

's North East frontiers? Where is that symbol of Indian-ism which the director wanted younger generation to associate it with?

The Sur didn't actually 'mila' in this attempt. It’s a complete disaster. it cleanly looks like the members of Times of India Camp got an opportunity to participate in a music video and anyone who was not part of the camp was taken out in this "pseudo national unity video." Only 15 cities of

India

were captured for this video and it’s a shame to even prove the point that the cities, the bollywood babes and hunks hold the identity of my Country.

shabad kirtan in Ashram

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:04:00 +0000

I know its too late to share these, but got hold of the photographs today...

The Shabad kirtan in the Art of Living Ashram was held on the 19th of June 2009. It was mesmerizing. According to the instructions by Guruji, the ashram obeyed all rules of singing the Kirtan. Every single person had covered their head. The Kirtan was devoid of clapping, which was yet another unique aspect and something new for ashramites :) . The Gurudwara Of bangalore, President and Secretary along with Sikh Families in Bangalore were also present for the kirtan. Guruji, the day before the Kirtan, gave a commentary on Ik Onkar too.

The Ashram Kitchen also prepared Langar Prasad and the main Cook of the Gurudwara in collaboration with Ashram kitchen made the dinner for the evening.

for any press enquiry contact : media(dot)coordinator(@)artofliving(dot)org

Sri Sri Playing the Piano

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:37:00 +0000

his fingers moves so very fast. he played the song " nataraj shubhakara" in it... with uncanny knack. With his resplendent smile and stage presence made it an evening to remember.

Art of Livings historic musical symphony in Pune

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:10:00 +0000

2750 classical vocalists enthrall a live audience of over 2 lakhs.

Bangalore. January 13, 2010: Art of Living hosted a historic symphony - Antarnaad - in Pune today, bringing over 2750 Indian classical vocalists together on one platform, to write a new chapter in the history of music.

Conceived by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, spiritual and humanitarian leader and Founder, Art of Living, the aim of Antarnaad was to showcase the vast repertoire of Hindustani classical music as well as to provide a platform for the exponents of this ancient Indian art.

Stating that classical music and spirituality are among the most definitive and unique offerings India can make to the world, His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said, “Spirituality and music together can uplift people, get them out of depression and help them start a new life with enthusiasm. For a stress-free life, you have to embrace both these facets (spirituality and music).”

Musicians from across the country, celebrity singers like Shankar Mahadevan and renowned names like Pt Rajan & Sajan Misra were also part of this event. Shankar Mahadevan said, “These days, we hear that Hindustani Classical music is on a decline. But looking at this crowd, would you believe this?”

Dy CM of Maharashtra, Shri Chaggan Bhujbal said, “It is a matter of pride for Maharashtra to have this symphony in the cradle of Hindustani classical music. When these people sing together, it sounds like a plea for peace and non-violence.”

The singers who were perched on a mammoth 27,000 square feet stage sang exquisite compositions, based on ancient ragas in the Gandharva Veda, namely, Shree, Purya Dhanashree, Des, Basant Bahar, Chandrakaus, Shankara, Kalavati, Janasammohini and Bhoop, enthralling a live audience of over 2 lakh people.

Present at the event, were numerous dignatories, politicians, celebrities, businessmen and corporate heads including Shri Chaggan Bhujbal, Dy CM Maharashtra, Shri Gopinath Munde, Dy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Shri Narayan Rane, Revenue Minister Maharashtra, Shri R R Patil Home minister, Maharashtra, among others.

Antarnaad is the grandest in the Art of Living tradition of showcasing ancient Indian arts on one platform. The Art of Living had earlier entered the Guinness Book of World Records with 1200 Mohiniattam dancers performing together on one stage in Kerala in 2006 and for its historic sitar concert titled Brahmnaad in New Delhi in Nov 2008, which brought together over 1000 sitar exponents, in aid of the Bihar Relief and rehabilitation.
The evening actually lived and reminded of the good old "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" days.

Pic Caption: 2750 Hindustani Classical Singers performing on the stage together at Antarnaad. For Media Enquiries and for more details of Art of Livings contribution towards India's Music, Contact : media[dot]coordinator[@]artofliving[dot]org

Anti Smoking Rally by SSRVM

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:35:00 +0000

Tiny Tots Voice Protest against Smoking

Bangalore: Over Hundred children from SSRVM school along with teachers took part in a Anti Smoking Rally that was held in Koramangala BDA complex, Forum Mall and Raheja Arcade.
The event formed as part of the value education project for the school. It was held under the banner: “Stop Smoking, Start Living”. Children also gave pamphlets to the passersby informing them about the Art of Living’s de- addiction programs that would help smokers to kick the Habit in just 6 days.
“Through such events and value based educations, the harms of smoking get embedded in children and they also become a vehicle for spreading awareness”, said Reshma Ganesh, Principal, SSRVM School. “We look forward to conducting more such awareness programmes, that will build value among children”, she added.

Clicking with my 350d after real long time

Guruji - Avatar - fancy Dress competition

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 07:59:00 +0000

all courtesy to his fans, who make special costumes for him... The king of Happy Times!
:)

Riddhi maglani

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:02:00 +0000

With my glasses

Yes plus advance course

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:11:00 +0000

1900 youngsters from 21 countries attended this winter break 2009. Started on 26th and it ends today. .

My school

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:45:00 +0000

Today, i visited my school. For the first time in years, i was there after school hours. These lines that you see, is of the badminton court in my school auditorium. We had a state of the art, teak floored, 3 indoor badminton court. I started going for badminton coaching when i was in 3rd grade and i went through rigorous coaching for 6 years. I was not the best among the lot. But i had the stamina to keep playin. I was trained that way. Only the last half an hour or so was actual playing time. During summer vacations, we used to start our training at 6. With morning walk, stretchin exercises, running around the ground for half an hour, shadow play in the court and then we would be given a shuttle. I have played district and state level tournaments. And in one of the state tournament, i beat this kid who later became state champion in a very tight match. That was my last tournament. My mom stripped me off my passion. I was forced to stop playing for academics. this was the only sport which gave me that adrenaline rush. This friend of mine, whom i used to beat easily, became in state top 5 in 12th grade and i clearly remember the day he reminded me about it, and how chasing the passion, made him a seal PLAYER. Its been more than 8 years, since i stopped playin. I would want to get back to it soon. Really badly. Today i just got to feel the same court, the teak floor, the detachable posts, to see, the place where we were trained. Today my eyes filled with tears thinking about the lost opportunity. . . These lines are etched on me. And i swear i will not leave it. Not to win laurals, but to realise myself. . .

My dad and my grandmom

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 10:55:00 +0000

I witness 2

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:11:00 +0000

Yet another sunday supplement with new indian express

I witness

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:12:00 +0000

Sunday supplement for new indian express.

Expresso

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:58:00 +0000

Full page

New indian express supplement

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:06:00 +0000

Its called expresso.

Finishing touches

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:06:00 +0000

The new marriage hall that has come up in old ashram side, near sumeru mantap. Aesthetically done and styled in a traditional south indian style. I loved it.

Welcome christmas

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:16:00 +0000

At the art of living international ashram, bangalore. This is the reception.

Christmas tree in ashram.

noreply@blogger.com (aswin) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Preparations started for the day.