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And I will continue" says 20 years old Ramachandran
Sureshkumar in Sea Street, Colombo. [HumanityAshore]
Rise of China, India [Yale Global]
American leadership can survive and even gain from Asia's new
stars as long as trade is free
AMERICANS are having another Sputnik moment: One of those
periodic alarms about some foreign technological and economic
menace. It was the Soviets in the 1950s and early 1960s, the
Germans and the Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, and now it's
the Chinese and the Indians.
To anyone old enough, there's no forgetting Oct 4, 1957, when
the Soviets sent the first space satellite into orbit. It terrified
America. We'd taken our scientific superiority for granted. Foolish
us. Soon there were warnings of a 'missile gap' with the Soviets.
One senator admonished that Americans should 'be less
concerned with . . . the height of the tail fin on the new car and
prepared to shed blood, sweat and tears if this country and the
free world are to survive'.
The missile gap turned out to be a myth, as did many later
theories explaining why the Germans and the Japanese would
inevitably surpass us. They were said to have better managers,
better workers and better schools. They outsaved and outinvested
us.
and the era of human rights in the headlines [CBC]
In 1961 a man read an article in a newspaper and decided to
write a letter. A movement was born.
The man was Peter Benenson and the article was about two
young Portuguese who had been thrown into prison under the
repressive regime then running the country. Their crime had been
to raise their wine glasses to toast "Liberty."
Benenson was a British lawyer and his letter to the editor
expressed outrage at this abuse. His letter was called "the
forgotten prisoners." He called on people to protest the
imprisonment of people because of their political or religious
beliefs.
That letter led to the creation of Amnesty International.
Forty-four years later Amnesty is a force in the world. It has almost
two million members. It continues as it began, writing and
intervening on behalf of people it believes have been wrongly
imprisoned for their beliefs.
in Sri Lanka [NPR Audio]
The tsunami that struck coastal communities on the Indian Ocean
last December displaced more than 500,000 people in Sri Lanka
alone. Many survivors are still without permanent homes.
Architect Terrance Brown of the American Institute of Architects
recently returned from a survey of the country's damaged
coastline. His trip was part of an effort by American architects,
engineers, planners and landscape designers who are advising
the Sri Lankans on how to re-build.
More than half of all humans will soon be living in cities,
according to a prediction by the United Nations.
"Psychologically it is an important step for mankind," Hania Zlotnik,
director of the United Nations Population Division, told the BBC.
There are concerns that, in developing countries, basic provisions
in cities will lag behind population growth.
Observers will see increased pressure placed on resources and
services as humankind becomes an urban species.
"It's an increasing trend that is becoming more obvious. People do
not realise how rural the world was until recently. That is
changing," Zlotnik said.
Despite almost four millennia as centres of civilisation, it was only
fairly recently that cities attracted more than a small percentage of
the global population. With hindsight, the 20th Century was the
century of urbanisation.
DoCoMo's next big move: Phones that double
as credit cards
In the beginning, the cell phone was a phone -- handy for making
calls but little else. Then manufacturers added cameras, e-mail,
music, and even television to their phones, making the gadgets an
essential part of daily routines. Now, Japanese carrier NTT
DoCoMo Inc. (DCM ) wants to entrench the once-humble cell
phone even deeper into consumer lifestyles by turning it into an
electronic wallet. After introducing handsets last year that double
as debit cards -- allowing users to pay for small purchases such as
soda or coffee from vending machines and convenience stores --
the company this year plans to make those phones full-fledged
credit cards.
Merchant Ivory film producer Ismail Merchant has died at the age
of 68, his London office has said.
Along with his creative partner James Ivory, he made such
acclaimed period films such as Howards End, A Room With A View
and Remains of the Day.
He died in a London hospital this afternoon, his office said.
The cause of death was unclear, but a spokesman said the
Indian-born producer had suffered from stomach problems over
the past year.
Spiritual outsider
Novelist and cartoonist O.V. Vijayan encountered the
incomprehensible meaninglessness of his times with an outward
silence and inward alertness.
The sinner recapitulates the God through sufferings. All true arts
are sufferings.
O.V. Vijayan
IN every language, only a few writers turn out to be really "great",
to have the literary history of their language reset into what
happened before and after them. O.V. Vijayan, who died recently,
is unquestionably one such. In Kerala today, no discourse on
literature is possible without referring to him and his work. And, the
influence he had on the literary culture of the language and the
legacy he left behind as a writer are so huge that anyone who
takes to writing after him requires exceptional talent and genius to
escape them.
Kadri Gopalnath was born in Panemangalore, in Dakshina
Kannada district (Karnataka, South India) in 1950. He acquired a
taste for music from his father, Thaniappa who was a nagaswaram
vidwan. Young Gopalnath once saw the saxophone being played in
the Mysore palace band set. Ofcourse, the band set was playing a
western tune. Thrilled on hearing the vibrant tone of the
saxophone, Gopalnath decided to master it. It took him nearly 20
years for him to conquer the complex western wind instrument and
he was eventually crowned as the "Saxophone Chakravarthy". His
achievement is especially laudatory, as Gopalnath had to make
certain improvisations to the conventional Saxophone instrument in
order to play Carnatic music. So perfect has this adaptation been
that no less a musician than Shemmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, the
doyen of Indian Music, has acknowledged Kadri Gopalnath has a
true Carnatic music genius.
Kadri
Gopalnath
Saxaphone
Instrumental
double reed instruments.
- International Herald Tribune
Kadri’s prowess and skill in handling the Saxophone to convey the
nuances of Carnatic Music was really encouraging to watch.
Despite the fact that the saxophone is a brass instrument and
lacks the mellifluous timbre of the traditional nagaswaram, Kadri
was able to produce such a rich variety of Musical Cadences.
- Daily News, Colombo
His soft, legato flurries meshed perfectly in an unusual grouping of
violin, Jew’s harp and Mridangam drum.
- The Times, London