Idle musings

THREE REMARKABLE SPEECHES     NOTE: This blog was updated on 04-Sep-13. It was originally published on 27-Aug-13. I added a couple of details more about Dr. R. Balasubramaniam in the first paragraph. I had mis-spelt "this" as "thos", which I corrected. I added the word "which", which was missing in the last sentence of the paragraph that introduces Ms. Madhu Kishwar. I also changed the font to "Verdana".     On Sunday, 25-Aug-13, I attended a seminar organized to commemorate Swami Vivekananda's 150th birth anniversary this year. The website http://vivek150.org/ has information about the celebrations. The theme of the seminar was "Intellectual Meet for Vision and Thought Leaders". The speakers were Manohar Parrikar, the Chief Minister of Goa; Madhu Kishwar, the Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), based in Delhi and founder editor of "Manushi" (more information is available at http...

REVIEW OF "DWEEPA" ==================     Last weekend, I saw a Kannada movie called "Dweepa". Here are my comments on it.     To sum it first, the movie is mainly about attitudes and relationships and in particular about dealing with change. It has made me think and has raised questions. Bottomline : I like the movie !     The story is of a couple who live in an island off the Karnataka coast. Due to the construction of a dam, the people in the island are asked to move. The reaction of the couple and the husband's father form the main plank of the movie.     The husband's father (played by Vasudev Rao) wants to stay in the island. His livelihood comes from the ritual of "Naima", a kind of soothsayer in the village. In the evening of his life, he can think of no alternative livelihood. The husband and wife, Nagi, take him to the Nagi's father's house, but the old man returns to the island due to his reluctance to change his li...