We are all used to listening about how "Katrina" caused so much damage in New Orleans, "Dennis" in Florida etc. We are not used to hearing how Mumbai was paralysed by "Pyarr" or how people of Chennai got their water from "Vaali". Strange as it might sound cyclones in Northern Indian Ocean do have names. Actually they started naming them from mid -2004.
Naming storms is very convenient for everybody - meteorologists, government, news media and the general public. Now people in India can talk reminiscently of how "Laila" gracefully showered just before the crop season.
Just like any other ordeal in South Asia , naming cylcones cannot be done without playing politics. Cyclones in North Indian ocean are not named alphabetically as in the Atlantic ocean. Eight countries (Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Srilanka and Thailand) each contribute names for cyclones. The nations are then arranged in an alphabetical order. The cylones are then sequentially named according the names given by these nations.
For a list of cyclone names click here
This form of naming is not unique to Northern Indian Ocean. The Western Atlantic cyclones use the same method for naming cyclones. Why can't keep it simple by naming them according to English alphabetical order.
Showing posts with label Tidbits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tidbits. Show all posts
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Zen - an art we ignored
Everybody should have heard of Zen - the Japanese art of meditation practiced by Buddist monks who seem to have their body and mind in communion. Zen is glorified by the Hollywood and its popularity in the western world ever increasing. Be it the old Chinese movies of martial arts or the latest "Matrix" the control of mind is always something which fascinates everyone. To be in a world of eternal happiness and not being affected by the everyday good and bad happenings are things which attract many of us.
What surprised me was that Zen had an Indian origin. A guy by the name of Bodhidharma travelled from Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu to China to spread the word about Buddhism. He taught the Chinese monks the art of meditation (dhyan) which they called "chan". This later went to Japan as "Zazen" and then to the west as Zen.
If not for the Hollywood movies and the western books, I probably would never have heard of Zen. Isnt it ironic, that something that originated from India had to travel all the way around the world (literally!) for me to hear it back in India.
It seems Bodhidharma found that the Chinese monks at the Shaolin temple were totally out of shape (probably eating too much cheese!) and he wanted to set a regimen of exercises for them. These exercises along with the traditional Chinese knowledge of martial arts evolved into the modern day "kung-fu". There have been surmises that Bodhidharma could have transferred some of his knowledge of "Kalaripayattu" - a form of martial arts from Kerala. He seems to be credited for introducing tea in China too!
The last few statements may or may not be true, but what is true is that, we tend to ignore a lot of good things about our own country and try to look abroad for inspiration. India might not be the home of Newtons and Einsteins but we have our own share of "inventors" and philosophers. Its a pity that we were not taught about these things at school, so that we could feel proud of ourselves and act a lot more confident when dealing with the world.
What surprised me was that Zen had an Indian origin. A guy by the name of Bodhidharma travelled from Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu to China to spread the word about Buddhism. He taught the Chinese monks the art of meditation (dhyan) which they called "chan". This later went to Japan as "Zazen" and then to the west as Zen.
If not for the Hollywood movies and the western books, I probably would never have heard of Zen. Isnt it ironic, that something that originated from India had to travel all the way around the world (literally!) for me to hear it back in India.
It seems Bodhidharma found that the Chinese monks at the Shaolin temple were totally out of shape (probably eating too much cheese!) and he wanted to set a regimen of exercises for them. These exercises along with the traditional Chinese knowledge of martial arts evolved into the modern day "kung-fu". There have been surmises that Bodhidharma could have transferred some of his knowledge of "Kalaripayattu" - a form of martial arts from Kerala. He seems to be credited for introducing tea in China too!
The last few statements may or may not be true, but what is true is that, we tend to ignore a lot of good things about our own country and try to look abroad for inspiration. India might not be the home of Newtons and Einsteins but we have our own share of "inventors" and philosophers. Its a pity that we were not taught about these things at school, so that we could feel proud of ourselves and act a lot more confident when dealing with the world.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
A Virus by any other name
Yesterday was a bad day for many large companies including mine. We were paralysed by the Zotob virus. Ok.. if you are like my friend, who is picky about the usage of terms like "virus", "worm" or "Trojan", let me tell you this.. I dont care...
Call me computer illiterate... But all I know is that I cannot do my work because of this damn thing on the network. No use blaming Microsoft. Blame it on Apple, Sun and all other companies. They were the one's who failed to provide a viable alternative to Microsoft. Monopoly and Capitalism were thought of as antithetic ideas. Now such large corporations are living examples where Capitalism has failed.
Call me computer illiterate... But all I know is that I cannot do my work because of this damn thing on the network. No use blaming Microsoft. Blame it on Apple, Sun and all other companies. They were the one's who failed to provide a viable alternative to Microsoft. Monopoly and Capitalism were thought of as antithetic ideas. Now such large corporations are living examples where Capitalism has failed.
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