Sanskrit, Urdu, Tamil

A friend of mine shared this link with me according to which Tamil is the oldest language in India. And that Sanskrit is not the mother of Hindi but a sibling. I had always thought that Sanskrit was the oldest language in India. But after reading some of the top links from Google, I am still confused. There are just opinions from common people and no scholarly article.

And then I came across this link according to which 95% of Sanskrit has nothing to do with religion and rituals but deals with science, maths etc. And of course Urdu is an independent language outside of Islam. 

Additional reading: 

• http://www.topix.com/forum/topstories/TFP3S689VPPI1U6IN 
• http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061120095652AA6DGPv 

Utterly Hilarious Post On Cleavage

I read this post on cleavage. Very funny.

Cuisine Across India

A friend showed me this link on Indian cuisine a couple of weeks back. Provides a decent overview.

Today another friend from Europe suggested that Tamil cuisine could have something in common with Bangladeshi cuisine considering both are from neighboring countries. 

I recalled the first link given (incidentally by another friend from Europe) to me which kinda explained the variation in cuisine across India. Bangladeshi and (West) Bengali cuisine are likely to be very similar.

Buying Silver In Demat Form In India

Now you can buy silver in demat form in India.

Justice In Bihar

Where is justice in Bihar for all those who were killed?

Eeeek Someone Is Spying On Me

This is a nice article on the amount of personal data that is available to entities like Google, Facebook.

Baby Red Riding Hood's Day Out

Well if you like your grandmother too much then...

Quality Of Newspapers And Comments In A Pakistani Newspaper

Only today I was telling my friend that the quality of articles and the content / even presentation in Pakistani newspapers seems poor (compared to those in India). It's like reading an xml file or a code with no paraphrasing.

The issues being discussed in newspapers in both India and Pakistan are usually mundane and their solution seem too trivial.

Now I was reading this link about marriages and inbreeding in the Pakistani newspaper The Nation. Read the comments. They aare juvenile and there seems to be no moderation from the paper either. While the paper seems to be one of the better newspapers, these kind of comments truly pull down the image of the newspaper. Even in blogs people prefer comments to be mature and not personal.

Challenges With BYOD For The CIO

This is an article on the issues faced by a CIO with allowing employees to bring their own device to work.

Old Memories Of Bangladesh - Early 1970s

This is a nice article on Bangladesh from the 1970s.

Abaya And A Teenager

I read this article couple of days back. I am very impressed. The writer is a teenager from Calicut.

Additional reading: http://vbala99.blogspot.in/2009/09/how-does-child-recognize-his-mom.html

Ram Setu Controversy

A friend gave me a nice article on Ram Setu controvery. This is the about the low stretch between Pamban (India) and Talaimannar (Srilanka). Very interesting is also the photo in the article.

Additional reading: http://Calmisc.blogspot.in/2011/01/dhanushkodi.html

Offbeat Perspective

I have always loved an offbeat perspective. This article is on SRK being detained for a few hours at a US airport because his name is Khan.

While I certainly feel bad for one man being detained for a few hours at an airport, my question is: is he the only person who has ever been detained? 

I have started taking a dislike for people like SRK, Katrina, Kareena, Sachin, Amitabh Bachhan etc who seem to endorse anything from energy drinks to colas to laptops to insurance products and much more. One should endorse something one feels deeply for and not to make a quick million. These people suck.

Munbe Va

I came across this link today, songs sung by Vandana Srinivasan. The song Munbe Va is very nice.

Chinese Aristocracy At Harvard, Oxford

This is a story on aristocracy at Harvard and Oxford.

Expose At Penn State

This is quite an old story about a scandal at Penn State. But how tenacious the reporter was. Wowow.

Disruptive Innovation

This is a nice article on innovation and Instagram.

Here is another very interesting article on choosing to deal with scumbags.

What A Woman!

See this picture. How does the woman come across?

Photos Of Children

Here is a photo of a sweet child.

Home Service

Long time back when internet was first catching on in India, we were pleasantly surprised to see that we could book train tickets over the net. We could book the ticket over the net and have the ticket delivered at our doorstep. 

Then we found that we could have books from a library delivered at our door step, then groceries, now it is garbage picked up from our doorstep.

What next?

Lovely Advertisement For Yoghurt

This is a lovely advertisement for yoghurt. Look at the faces of all the people in the lift (elevator), especially those of the man on the phone and the woman in front of him. Hilarious.

Women Became Men

This is a very nice article on how the modern woman is losing her femininity. Though the author has derived a way to become more feminine, I wonder how it is sustainable if a woman also has to compete with the men in their careers.

India And Bangalored IT

This is a relevant article on IT in India.

MACHO

Here is a cowboy.

Life explained by graphs....!

A friend sent me this. Enjoy.

life explained by graphs
 

Triple Talaq And Divorce

This is a nice article on Talaq in Islam. 

While this is interesting one question still remains. Is a person a citizen of a country first or of the religion first? Where is the need for a separate set of rules for nikah, talaq etc apart from what a country's civilian judicial process prescribes?

So if I didn't like to be subject to the rules of a country, I can invent my own religion "timbuktwoism" and have my own set of rules. Religion specific rules are perhaps ok in a country which has only people of that religion. In a secular country where is the need or the bona fides of such religious rules?

Shouldn't religion be confined to our homes? Outside our home we are just citizens of a nation.

Run A Company, Mario Puzo Style

I read this interesting article on the wisdom of mafia style of running operations.

This is an interesting article on types of charisma.

Entrepreneurial lessons here.

India In Poland

A Polish lady has translated Bhagwad Gita into Polish (the original link in TOI has been removed). Last year I read that Tamil will be taught at Jagiellonian University at Krakow (though I have not read any further news / updates on this).

To top it all, Blondie (my friend from Poland, I call her Blondie because she is a natural blonde and she can't spell her name, so I don't know her name) knows more about new Bollywood movies than I do. She was dancing when she heard that a famous Bollywood actor was supposed to come to her town. And I prayed, broke coconuts. Of course the actor's trip was canceled.

Leeloo wants to know about Ramayana and Mahabharat, the Indian epics.

The German Sigillum made Ghoogni, the same evening that I made, with only those ingredients that she had at home. When she asked her husband how the dish was, he said woaaaah. And she is planning to cook more Indian dishes. Wonder when her husband is gonna throw her out.

Oh Moj Boze... Too much of India in Poland.

Interview Questions

This is a list of inappropriate interview questions 

Silk Route

I read this nice article on silk route today. More nice pictures here.