Dear friends,
I am stunned beyond words and numbed beyond reaction after reading the sad news in my mail about the passing away of one of KCT's best Mathematics Professors, Dr. Kanagaraj.
For all of you from KCT who knew Dr. Kanagaraj, this must be a rude shock indeed. From what I gather, he had left KCT a year or so ago to pursue better prospects. He had travelled to Africa and had been there for most of the time since. It was in Africa (I know not where yet) that he sufferred a massive heart-attack and succumbed to it on the 18th of this month.
In his mail my friend has mentioned that he was having health problems and had planned to return to India shortly.
Please join me, my friends, in praying for the dear departed soul of Dr. Kanagaraj. I am sure we have many moments to remember and cherish from our interactions with him during our days in KCT. Under his tutelage the entire student community of KCT had been blessed with a wonderful Maths Teacher and he was a frontrunner in making KCT's Math Department one of the best in engineering colleges of repute in the State.
I shall remember him as an honourable gentleman with great intellectual capabilities.
May God provide his family and near and dear ones the strength to bear this deep loss and gently ease their profound grief.
That such a strong man should suddenly be called by God to his Kingdom prematurely is still beyond my limited scope of understanding. Times are strange indeed.
I sign off with a heavy heart.
Ram.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Sunday, April 10, 2005
The Greatest Farewell
Hello everyone,
The last week has been a poignant one for not just Catholics but also for millions of people all over the world, for the passing away of Pope John Paul II from this world into the welcoming arms of The Almighty has left behind a lacuna that would be hard to fill easily. As the voting Cardinals are gathered in Conclave to elect the next Pope, let us try to understand how Pope John Paul II came to be one of the best loved Popes in modern times.
The last week has been a poignant one for not just Catholics but also for millions of people all over the world, for the passing away of Pope John Paul II from this world into the welcoming arms of The Almighty has left behind a lacuna that would be hard to fill easily. As the voting Cardinals are gathered in Conclave to elect the next Pope, let us try to understand how Pope John Paul II came to be one of the best loved Popes in modern times.
A Brief Biography of Pope John Paul II:
Born on May 18, 1920 near Krakow in Poland, Karol Wojtyla would become Pope John Paul II, the spiritual leader to approximately one billion Roman Catholics and one of the most influential persons of the 20th Century. His mother Emilia Kraczorowska died in 1929, his brother Edmund in 1932 and his father in 1941.
Karol Wojtyla first became interested in becoming a Roman Catholic priest in 1942. During WW2 he worked in a quarry and a chemical factory in Nazi-occupied Poland to avoid being deported to Germany. The Nazis forbade seminary studies, so Karol had to pursue his calling to priesthood in secret. He was ordained in Krakow on November 1, 1946. On June 26, 1967 Wojtyla became the Archbishop of Krakow.Cardinal Wojtyla was desceibed as an important contributor to the Vatican Council II, which modernised the Church and granted parish priests greater autonomy.
On October 16, 1978 Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II and greeted the crowd from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, the first ever Polish Pope and the first non-Italian Pope elected since 1523!
Pope John Paul was seriously wounded when a 22 year old Turkish gunman shot him at St. Peter's Square on may 13, 1981. The pontiff was gravely wounded in the abdomen and was hospitalised for 77 days, during which time he repeatedly prayed for the soul of Mehmet Ali Agca, the gunman who sought to assasinate him. Just over a year later, he visited Agca in Rome's Rebibbia prison and forgave him for his sins.
As Pope, John Paul II proved to be a conservative and was of the opinion that any form of artificial birth control was sinful. He has openly condemned cloning and experiments with human life. Pope John Paul II, during his pontificate, made 96 trips abroad meeting the Common Man in every continent. It is estimated that he has been seen by more people that anyone else in history earning him the sobriquets "the Pope of the People" and "the globetrotting Pope". He spoke eight different languages learning Spanish after becoming Pope.
The Pope worked to reuinfy Roman Catholicism with the Armenian and Eastern Orthodox Churches following a centuries-old schism. During his pontificate the Pope ordained thousands of priests and presided over 138 beatification ceremonies including Mother Teresa of Calcutta and 49 canonization ceremonies creating 472 new saints. In his homily for the service during the beatification of Mother Teresa, the pope wrote: "I am personally grateful to this courageous woman whom I have always felt beside me. Mother Teresa, an icon of the Good Samaritan, went everywhere to serve Christ in the poorest of the poor."
After a prolonged illness that began with breathing difficulties from the flu in February and Parkinson's disease Pope John Paul II departed to heaven aged 84 on 2 April 2005.
*************************************************************
As I sit in front of my TV watching the funeral unfold, I cannot help but thinking that this man really has had a following in life and even in death. Millions of people gathered at St. Peter's Square and billions all over the world watched on TV I am sure. The feeling of grief was unanimous. The presence of world leaders from different countries was proof of the power the pope wielded and the presence of religious leaders from various faiths proved to me that it is the man and what he does that matters and that religion is only a means of keeping you on the right path.
I am sure the world would find it hard to replace this pope with one as good, but having said that I am also sure that someone has it in him to live up to the requirements of the office.
There are many Cardinals in the reckoning for the papacy and in the next week one will be chosen ending the Conclave. So who would the next pope be? An Italian by tradition, an European or an African or a South American? We will know soon, but whoever it would be would have a challenge to live up to, a standard set by the dear departed John Paul II.
But for now, it has been one of the greatest farewells in history to one of Vatican's greatest popes.
Karol Wojtyla first became interested in becoming a Roman Catholic priest in 1942. During WW2 he worked in a quarry and a chemical factory in Nazi-occupied Poland to avoid being deported to Germany. The Nazis forbade seminary studies, so Karol had to pursue his calling to priesthood in secret. He was ordained in Krakow on November 1, 1946. On June 26, 1967 Wojtyla became the Archbishop of Krakow.Cardinal Wojtyla was desceibed as an important contributor to the Vatican Council II, which modernised the Church and granted parish priests greater autonomy.
On October 16, 1978 Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II and greeted the crowd from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, the first ever Polish Pope and the first non-Italian Pope elected since 1523!
Pope John Paul was seriously wounded when a 22 year old Turkish gunman shot him at St. Peter's Square on may 13, 1981. The pontiff was gravely wounded in the abdomen and was hospitalised for 77 days, during which time he repeatedly prayed for the soul of Mehmet Ali Agca, the gunman who sought to assasinate him. Just over a year later, he visited Agca in Rome's Rebibbia prison and forgave him for his sins.
As Pope, John Paul II proved to be a conservative and was of the opinion that any form of artificial birth control was sinful. He has openly condemned cloning and experiments with human life. Pope John Paul II, during his pontificate, made 96 trips abroad meeting the Common Man in every continent. It is estimated that he has been seen by more people that anyone else in history earning him the sobriquets "the Pope of the People" and "the globetrotting Pope". He spoke eight different languages learning Spanish after becoming Pope.
The Pope worked to reuinfy Roman Catholicism with the Armenian and Eastern Orthodox Churches following a centuries-old schism. During his pontificate the Pope ordained thousands of priests and presided over 138 beatification ceremonies including Mother Teresa of Calcutta and 49 canonization ceremonies creating 472 new saints. In his homily for the service during the beatification of Mother Teresa, the pope wrote: "I am personally grateful to this courageous woman whom I have always felt beside me. Mother Teresa, an icon of the Good Samaritan, went everywhere to serve Christ in the poorest of the poor."
After a prolonged illness that began with breathing difficulties from the flu in February and Parkinson's disease Pope John Paul II departed to heaven aged 84 on 2 April 2005.
*************************************************************
As I sit in front of my TV watching the funeral unfold, I cannot help but thinking that this man really has had a following in life and even in death. Millions of people gathered at St. Peter's Square and billions all over the world watched on TV I am sure. The feeling of grief was unanimous. The presence of world leaders from different countries was proof of the power the pope wielded and the presence of religious leaders from various faiths proved to me that it is the man and what he does that matters and that religion is only a means of keeping you on the right path.
I am sure the world would find it hard to replace this pope with one as good, but having said that I am also sure that someone has it in him to live up to the requirements of the office.
There are many Cardinals in the reckoning for the papacy and in the next week one will be chosen ending the Conclave. So who would the next pope be? An Italian by tradition, an European or an African or a South American? We will know soon, but whoever it would be would have a challenge to live up to, a standard set by the dear departed John Paul II.
But for now, it has been one of the greatest farewells in history to one of Vatican's greatest popes.
Sources of information: The Washington Post, ABC News and the internet.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Dancing with the Stars
Hello!
I am a regular viewer of this fabulous dance show on Channel 7 here. It is called “Dancing with the Stars” and it is a competition. Couples dance to different types of music and do different classes of dances in each round to prove their proficiency in all forms of dancing be it the Waltz or the Tango or the Salsa. One thing is certain, it is a treat to one’s eyes.
I have been avidly following the fortunes of many of the good performers (and I am not exaggerating when I say all couples in the competition have shown amazing skills) and like anyone would, have grown to have a soft corner for some couples. Well, they melted that corner with their stunning dancing to make it soft!
Tonight’s show, the equivalent of what could be called a quarter-final, with four lovely couples proved an exhilarating experience. It also left me a little unhappy. I will tell you why.
Given that all four couples in tonight’s “test” have consistently pushed the bar of excellence a notch skywards in the past weeks, one does always discern a little, if only miniscule, more icing on some cakes than some others. You know what I mean.
So let it be recorded that I feel for the charming Jason and the lovely Luda having to exit the competition. Mark and Holly have always been the professional dancers who have it in them to enthral any audience. They are the best dancers I have ever seen in a competition like this one. Tom and Kym have improved on their weaknesses by working hard and have grown in stature as a couple immensely and have impressed a lot of people. Ian and Natalie have always tried very hard but Ian is not the greatest dancer around. They did perform quite well certainly, but they still did need a miracle to not get eliminated at such an advanced stage of the competition. That is exactly what they did get! Half the points that the participants score are given out by the judges (professional dancers themselves) while the other half is accounted for by the number of votes each couple polls from the viewing public. To be fair to them, Ian was totally stunned to be told to be back next week for the “semi-final”.
Two things for us to take away from this tale:
1. Never to give up even when you are down. Down is never out. Fortune smiles on you when you least expect it but you should not have lacked in trying. As the famous song goes, “Zindagi ek safar hai suhana… Yahan kal kya ho, kisne jaana?”
2. Life can be sometimes a blossom and at other times a prickly thorn. Jason and Luda showed me how to laugh and sing through the spring and to smile through the autumn.
As a closing note I would like to commend Jason and Luda for the fantastic attitude they have brought to the fore throughout this competition apart from their fabulous dancing. You may not be in the competition any more, but to me you are still deserving winners and when I look up at the sky I will see you dancing with the stars!
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Down the Great Ocean Road
Dated: 15 march 2005
Hi everyone,
Last weekend was my first in Australia and a long one at that too! Monday was a holiday for Labour Day. What would I do then? Go out of course!
I found out from local people here about the Great Ocean Road. If the name definitely caught my attention, in retrospect I am glad I chose this location because what I saw simply blew my breath away! The Shipwreck Coast is aptly named indeed.This beautiful stretch of road lies south-west of Melbourne and hugs one of the most rugged natural coastlines in the world all along its length.
A complete dossier on the Great Ocean Road is available on their website: www.greatoceanroad.org and I urge to you visit this well built and very informative site. You would read about the history and all the stories relating to this part of natural beautiful Australia in this site. I have uploaded some beautiful pictures I shot myself on this trip on imagestation and have sent some of you the link.
I went on the trip with a few colleagues and since I did not have a car then, we went on the guided tour bus. Apart from the awesome beauty of the place itself, I enjoyed thoroughly the continuous running commentary of our bus driver cum guide. The highlight of the day was the Typcal Aussie breakfast that our guide had prepared himself and this included lovely Australian herbal tea and some crackers with vegemite (a jam of sorts made from vegetables, but with the look of tar) and succulent home-made honey cakes. We returned after an exhilarating experience at night stopping by in the quaint old village of Colac for some evening refreshments.
I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and am certain I would be making a trip again down this lovely route soon, only next time by car and including an overnight stay somewhere in the beautiful and quiet Otways.
A must go trip for anyone visiting the southern parts of Australia, the Great Ocean Road. Until the next post, Das Vidaniya and may the Lord be with you. :-)
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Kangaroo Jack from Melbourne
Hello everyone!
I had a long but quite comfortable flight to Melbourne. There was a long stop-over in Singapore and in my Singapore-Melbourne flight, I mostly slept. It so happened that someone I knew from IBM was on the same Bangalore-Singapore flight. So we passed the time together in Singapore airport. Singapore airport is a fascinating place. It is so beautifully designed and comfortable.
I converted some Aussie dollars for Singapore dollars and had a cup of hot cocoa for S$4.00! One S$ = Rs. 28/-. Well, I felt quite full in my stomach after that drink!
My flight SQ217 landed at the Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne. I caught a cab from the airport and the taxi driver, after a little bit of searching found the address and I met Sathish Ganesh there. He leads the onsite team and is a nice guy. Already met couple of other veggie guys too.
It is overcast and temperature hovers around 16-20 degrees. Quite comfortable actually.
My apartment (a temp 2 bedroom one) is lavishly furnished. It is like the designer apartments that we see on TV interior design shows. A state of the art futuristic apartment. I will send pics later. In a week I will move into another apartment (a 1 Bedroom one) and that will be my place for a long time come.
I plan to get and stock provisions this evening. I am told all Indian items are available here from a SriLankan store nearby.
I have to open my bank account here in a day or two.
I came to office here just in time for a photo shoot of the whole team. I got a PMI T-Shirt and a place in the team photo.
Will keep you posted from down under regularly.
Hakuna Matata! No Worries!
I had a long but quite comfortable flight to Melbourne. There was a long stop-over in Singapore and in my Singapore-Melbourne flight, I mostly slept. It so happened that someone I knew from IBM was on the same Bangalore-Singapore flight. So we passed the time together in Singapore airport. Singapore airport is a fascinating place. It is so beautifully designed and comfortable.
I converted some Aussie dollars for Singapore dollars and had a cup of hot cocoa for S$4.00! One S$ = Rs. 28/-. Well, I felt quite full in my stomach after that drink!
My flight SQ217 landed at the Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne. I caught a cab from the airport and the taxi driver, after a little bit of searching found the address and I met Sathish Ganesh there. He leads the onsite team and is a nice guy. Already met couple of other veggie guys too.
It is overcast and temperature hovers around 16-20 degrees. Quite comfortable actually.
My apartment (a temp 2 bedroom one) is lavishly furnished. It is like the designer apartments that we see on TV interior design shows. A state of the art futuristic apartment. I will send pics later. In a week I will move into another apartment (a 1 Bedroom one) and that will be my place for a long time come.
I plan to get and stock provisions this evening. I am told all Indian items are available here from a SriLankan store nearby.
I have to open my bank account here in a day or two.
I came to office here just in time for a photo shoot of the whole team. I got a PMI T-Shirt and a place in the team photo.
Will keep you posted from down under regularly.
Hakuna Matata! No Worries!
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