NY Times dismisses the myth that Latin America is rapidly moving to the left or center-left, at best - ignited by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

If you're looking for happiness, go and live in Denmark.

It is the happiest country in the world while Burundi in Africa is the most unhappy, according to a report by a British scientist released Friday.

So, what does happiness mean to you? Undoubtedly, being happy and measuring happiness (rtf file) is not that easy.

"Happiness is determined more by one's state of mind than by external events. Success may result in a temporary feeling of elation, or tragedy may send us into a period of depression, but sooner or later our overall level of happiness tends to migrate back to a certain baseline." - The Art of Happiness by the 14th Dalai Lama

"Happiness is not a simple thing. There are many levels. In Buddhism, for instance, there is a reference to the four factors of fulfillment, or happiness: wealth, worldly satisfaction, spirituality, and enlightenment. Together they embrace the totality of an individual's quest for happiness." - ibid

The Dalai Lama has also written a book - Genuine Happiness: Meditation as the Path to Fulfillment

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"If it makes you happy... it can't be that bad" crooned Sheryl Crow.

In an increasing trend, men lead meaningful lives with no jobs or ambition

Instead of heading to work, Beggerow, 53, fills his days with diversions: playing the piano, reading histories and biographies, writing unpublished Western potboilers in the Louis L'Amour style - all activities once relegated to spare time. He often stays up late and sleeps until 11 a.m.....

Read more at the article.. no, its not from The Onion!

The legendary guitarist from Mali, Ali Farka Toure, lauded as the King of the African Blues, the Godfather of Desert Blues, and the King of Sahara, passed away earlier this year. (Obituaries from BBC, NYT, Guardian, NPR, and various bloggers and online sites & forums remember him fondly.)

Thanks to BBC's World Music Audio Archive, listen to a great tribute show here (real player download)

Following the death of the mighty Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure, Lucy Duran and Andy Kershaw presented a special tribute to their friend. The programme includes some of the desert bluesman's essential tracks, as well as material from the BBC's own archive, and contributions from Ali's friend and producer Nick Gold.

You can isten to a number of clips featuring Ali Farka Toure's music on NPR's All Songs Considered, including an interview (real player download) with his long-time producer, Nick Gold (also the man who bought us the Buena Vista Social Club). Nick describes his journey to Nikafune near Timbaktu to record the album, Niafunké.

Apparently...

...forsaking fame in Europe and the US, which came aplenty, Ali Farka Toure retired in the 1990s from all travel and music recitals abroad, instead developing and spending the remainder of his life developing his farm in Nikafune. He refused to travel to he US to even produce albums and apparently even did not travel to the US to get his Grammy, famously saying..."I don't know what a Grammy means but if someone has something for me, they can come and give it to me here in Niafunke, where I was singing when nobody knew me.")

Ali Farka Toure enjoyed his life in Niafune.

"Africa is my source of inspiration, my home base, my joy".
Contrary to many African artists, Ali Farka Touré was never tempted to exile himself in the West, during the seventies and eighties when the expansion of World Music drew many of them to Europe. Quite the contrary. This musician, whose musical culture is impressive, respected and revered throughout the world, is truly closer than any other to his own land, Mali. To such a degree that today, after winning over the international music scene with his sensitive, inspired blues, he now spends most of his time farming.

Markus James visited Ali Farka Toure in Mali in January 2006, a few weeks before Ali's passing, and shares his thoughts about his long-time friend and inspiration.

Reviewing his album, Savane, released posthumously earlier this month, Robin Desenlow of the Guardian, writes:

There may be other recordings of his that have yet to be released (including sessions with the world's finest kora player, Toumani Diabaté, recorded at the time of their memorable concert together at the Barbican last year), but this is the last solo album by the best-known and best-loved guitarist in Africa, and it's simply outstanding. He described it as "my best album evera" and he was absolutely right. Even compared to the much-praised earlier work by Mali's "godfather of the desert blues", this is a set that's remarkable for its sheer variety and passion, along with the expected but still thrilling guitar work, and some less predictably fine vocals.

And Charlie Gillett reviewing the album, Savane, in the Observer wrote:

The great bluesman's posthumous album is the finest of his career. Remember him this way.

Farka Toure won his second Grammy earlier this year for Heart of the Moon, BBC's Album of the Year* (hear Hawa Dolo from this album) and his collaboration with Toumani Diabaté, the great African kora player, having won one for Talking Timbaktu, a collaboration with American guitarist, Ry Cooder, in 1994.

*The BBC review had this to say about the album: "It sounds like an established partnership made in heaven"..

Earlier Reviews in The Guardian
02.07.2005: Ali Farka Touré/Toumani Diabaté, Barbican, London
24.06.2005: CD: Ali Farka Touré commit; Diabaté, In the Heart of the Moon
12.11.2004: CD: Ali Farka Toure, Red & Green

Other links of interest:

Ali Farka Toure- Live In Niafunke
Afropop makes the pilgrimage to visit Grammy Award winner Ali Farka Toure in his beloved hometown of Niafunke on the banks of the Niger River in northern Mali. In this sublime set, Ali plays acoustic with musical mates on the njarka (one string violin), and the gurkel (two string instrument w/metal piece for buzz) and calabash (gourd used for percussion). Ali talks about what family and his community in Niafunke mean to him. Listen to the selection of his songs at the above link or via podcast.net.

Read an interview with Ali Farka Toure

And last but not least, see these videos via YouTube:

Ali Farka Toure with Corey Harris
Ali Farka Toure part 1
Ali Farka Toure part 2
Ali Farka Toure part 3
Ali Farka Toure part 4
Ali Farka Toure part 5
Ali Farka Toure part 6

Oh yeah..... like a sex machine...

One of my favorite compositions - Dave Brubeck Quarter plays Take Five. Amazing playing on the alto saxophone by Paul Desmond, who wrote this piece.

And Guitar Heaven...

, shockwave-flash@http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/2BUrYDJszsrguvQ5" href="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/2BUrYDJszsrguvQ5" id="">

And its coming up on midnight....time to go to bed - plan to fall asleep listening to this genius!

A man who had a penile implant to cure impotence is 'rising to the occasion' whenever his neighbour opens his garage doors. In a call to BBC Radio Merseyside the man claimed the remote control for his neighbour's garage was on the same frequency as the electronic device in his groin.

[...] He said: 'Every time my neighbours park their 4x4 I get an erection. It's embarrassing.' - via India Uncut

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In what must surely be one of the summer's more bizarre events, hundreds of people are expected to gather in a hall in central London on August 5 to pleasure themselves in aid of charity. Prizes will be on offer for those who clock up the most orgasms and those who can masturbate the longest - the current record, according to the organisers, is a chafing eight-and-a-half hours. (Related link: Masturbate-a-thon 2006) - Also via India Uncut

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Less shocking or less of a WTF, are these two news articles of events organized by people... the first understandable as an indulgence for many and the latter as a lifestyle choice for some...

A field of dreams - Pornutopia!

and

From an Amish to a swinger...thats quite a change! Ran into her story at this Yahoo! article about the swinging convention in Las Vegas (aaah..this is what they mean by 'What happens in LV, stays in LV! ;))

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Before today, all I had heard about Hari Kunzru is that he is British-born but of 'Indian-origin' and that he writes very different imaginative novels.

I had heard of him when he wrote his first book, The Impressionist, a few years ago and recieved a £1.25 million advance for it!! (Review of The Impressionist and an interview).

Just learned that the "The Impressionist was named as the winner of the 5,000 John Llewellyn Rhys award, the second oldest literary prize in Britain, but for the past 15 years it has been sponsored by The Mail on Sunday. Kunzru rejected the award, citing the newspaper’s ‘editorial policy of vilifying and demonising refugees and asylum seekers’. Kunzru demanded that the paper donate the prize money to the Refugee Council."

Also his author bio at contemporarywriters.com mentions that : In 2003, Hari Kunzru was named by Granta magazine as one of twenty 'Best of Young British Novelists'.

Apparently he has two more books since viz. Transmission in 2004 (Review) and more recently a book of short stories, Noise, that that I had not heard about untill I just saw Jai Arjun Singh's review of the same.

Also read this piece of fiction, Beyond The Pleasure Principle, from him in the Guardian. Very difficult reading...not for light reading at 10.30 in the night, for sure. I'll have to try to read it again some other time!

No.. not talking about Free Willy..the tragic story of the attempts to free the lovable dolphin (I say tragic despite the feel-good stories portrayed in the series of three movies about the dolphin because Keiko ultimately 'died in Norwegian coastal waters where he remained after millions of dollars and a decade of work failed to coax him back to the open sea') .. but am talking about free will and the freedom of man to choices.

I was looking for some reading to refresh my readings from the mid-90s on existentialist thinking on the topic of 'free will' and I found this great summary, in response to a question at Google Answer.

The question was: We have free will, and that can be defined as freedom of choice. Lifeis Belief and choice. So where do our choices come from? (ALL OF THEM)

Instead of reproducing the great answer here... I direct you to the thread.

More about Free Will later... (do not ask again... there is no one called Will who is captive! :))

... but in the meantime, you can peruse this exhaustive guide to Philosophy or read the entry on Free Will at the absolutely wonderful Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (though strangely this other Internet Encylopedia of Philosophy does not have entries on existentialism!)

I saw some amazing pictures by a Boston-based photographer, Laura McPhee at an exhibition titled River of No Return at the MFA in Boston yesterday. Incidentally, McPhee also had a exhibition at the Bernard Toale Gallery in Boston from May 1 to July 1 this year. The pictures at the MFA exhibition were all taken during her two-year stay in Idaho, one of the remaining 12 states in the US that I have not visited. (Yes...38 and counting in my 14 years here. Not bad, huh?). I had figured that Idaho would be one of the 4 states that I would never mind not going to (the others are Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas) but after seeing the pictures, I want to go NOW. I should plan a trip to Idaho and Wyoming (am currently reading Anne Proux's short story collection, Close Range & had read a few stories from Bad Dirt last year - both of these books have stories based in Wyoming) sometime!

I didn't reaIize that the world is celebrating Rembrandt's 400th anniversary when I saw quite a few of his paintings yesterday - along with paintings from such masters as van Gogh, Gauguin, Monet, Picasso, Degas, Renoir, Jackson Pollock, and Mary Cassatt, (a special exhibition with many of her paintings in addition to some as part of the Americans in Paris special exhibition mentioned below) and many many other famous Dutch, American, French, Italian, painters and not-so-famous artists all the way from the 16th to the 20th century. The one famous painting that I was excited to see was Whistler's Mom, which was part of the Americans in Paris special exhibition ongoing at the MFA. Incidentally, I particularly liked Whistler's Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl much more than the more famous painting of his mother.

The MFA has an amazing collection of paintings, Greek/Roman/Egyptian archeological finds, Japanese and Chinese art, etc. In my opinion, it is well worth the 15$ entry fee, though I should admit I went there with a free pass I got via the company I work for. (The MFA website tells me that they have " approximately 1,600 European paintings and 21,000 works of sculpture and decorative art.")

Here is a brief preview to what can be seen at the museum through their website, though I may add my own thoughts and details on what I enjoyed seeing later..

Art of Asia, Oceania + Africa
Art of Europe
Art of the Americas
Art of the Ancient World
Contemporary Art
Musical Instruments
Prints, Drawings + Photographs
Textile + Fashion Arts

Online Tours
Advanced Search
Conservation + Collections Care
Recent Acquisitions
Resources

Libidos of a Certain Age
NYT review of Heading South,’ a French movie from 2005 'about older single women visiting 1970’s Haiti in a female version of sex tourism. The women in the film, in their late 40’s and 50’s, are spending a vacation at a resort where impoverished local beach boys serve as holiday gigolos. The teenagers devote themselves to nourishing the women’s starved libidos in exchange for food, gifts and temporary refuge from the perils of the island’s repressive regime.'

I read about this movie yesterday when I picked up a flier about the 11th Boston French movie festival at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which runs from July 6th to 23rd. This is a great opportunity to catch some of these latest 'arty' films from France.. but doubt I'll find the time to go see the movies. Also, at 10$/movie, it is as pricey as regular theaters here in Boston and I'll probably just scan the list of movies from the festival and see whatever movies I can rent or see for free via the public library for much cheaper!

However, having seen quite a few French movies from the last fifteen years, I have been meaning to see a series of some French movies by the New Wave directors like Truffaut, Resnais, Jean Luc Godard and from the late 1950s and early 1960s, who influenced directors like Satyajit Ray and many on this side of the Atlantic too. I have picked up Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour a few times from the public library but have somehow not managed to find the right time to see it. Another great director, whose movies I been meaning to see is Ingmar Bergman and after that Akira Kurosawa.

A well-written article in DNA (which I found via Amit Varma's blog), where Gautam Adhikhari asks, "Are we better off, as a nation, than we were 15 years ago?" (its a rhetorical question - the answer is a resounding YES) and he criticizes Pankaj Mishra's recent NYT op-ed pieceother papers around the world?) in particular his "apparently gullible acceptance of the kind of loose, non-contextual data that’s peddled by the usual suspects of the left to bash India’s economic reform programme."
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Also read:
(cross-posted or topo-ed in India's economy - International Herald Tribune
How far can India be pushed? - Hindustan Times

and could not read
oped in the Asian Wall Street Journal, titled "India's Far From Free Markets" (subscription link) but Amit Varma discusses it here. Also read previous posts by Amit Varma on related subjects: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

and Ravikiran Rao's post on the subject, Why we reformed what we did, in which he explains why "[e]veryone supports reforms, but someone opposes every single reform measure."

Spotlight: India slowly opens to the world

Mallya is on a high..

Kingfisher Airlines is already flying high, with good overall ratings and various marketinggimmicks, new plane orders, ... it is now a fierce competitor for India's top two airlines - Jet Airways & Air Sahara ... I believe Indian Airlines...er now renamed ...just INDIAN... is a distant third..thanks to its non-existent customer service, old planes, etc. (btw, didnt realize till last week that the Jet-Sahara deal (big news in India when I was there in February) fell thruJet & Sahara have more details. Jet continues to do well by itself with excellent customer service being its main selling point. And although having Sahara would have helped it to monopolize the Indian market...so maybe, its best the deal fell thru!)

On the alcohol side, sales are booming in India and ofcourse, as India's largest brewer, UBG is enjoying a great windfall. Unbelievably, it seems that after a recent take-over of rival Shaw-Wallace company, UBG is the world's 2nd largest brewer. (The group also owns the Mendocino Brewing Company in the United States.)

Now Mallya wants to buy Fosters ('Australian for beer') too.. wow!

somewhere along the way - the wiki entries for Mallya bids for Foster's beer units

Continuing its global acquisition drive to become the numero uno liquor player, Vijay Mallya's United Breweries is believed to have made a bid for a part of Australian giant Foster's presumably valued at $234 million. According to sources, Mallya has bid for Foster's beer units in India and Vietnam, which is estimated to be valued at $234 million. "Mallya has made a bid for the beer units of Foster's in India and Vietnam," sources in the know of the development said.

Btw, I believe Fosters has a plant in India too...as I noticed during the February visit that the price for a Kingfisher and for a Fosters at the Mumbai airport cafetaria were the same but other international brands (don't remember which) were 40-50 rupees more. Oh..there you go..a quick google-search yielded this bit of info - " Foster's India Ltd, the 74:26 liquor joint venture between Foster's Brewing Group, Australia, and the Chennai-based Kothari group"

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Kinda related snippet:

(Funny) Comment at Airliners.net:

I am as sceptical about Kingfisher’s 5 x A380 as anyone. At the same time, I do not under-estimate the power of ambition in successful people. If they want to do it - and can raise the money - why not?… if we barred people from starting cheeky airlines, Sir Richard Branson would still be running a gay disco in London.

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Other related news that you may or may not be aware about...

In early 2005, India signed off on a plan to upgrade 80 airports throughout the country.

High time..!!! But lets hope it doesn't take as much time as as much corruption as the damn road system we are building..

They better get going on this soon - what with an ever increasing rise in segment of population that flies now .. what with the new low budget planes (in one case that I heard of, someone bought 2 round trip tickets from Bombay to Hyderabad for a sum total of 5000 Rupees, albeit with a 4-6 week advance booking.) With that kind of prices, basic plane flying (minus any luxuries or customer service worth speaking of, of course) will become almost as cheap as trains in India..

Venkatarangan writes at his blog..

Listen to Mona Lisa

What will her voice sound like - it was everyone's imagination when they see Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa Portrait. Now that puzzle has been solved by a Japanese Scientist "Dr.Matsumi Suzuki". Based on her perceived Height, Facial Dimensions, he claims to have produced to 90% accuracy of how Mona Lisa's voice would have sounded. If you want to hear it, go to Mona Lisa Speaks site. Dr.Suzuki also explains his method in the video. Only downside all of this is in Japanese.

And these are official census figures... the unofficial population has to be much more!

In 1968, our population was 60 lakh. It took us 32 years to double the figure (1.20 crore in 2001). But, the UN has predicted that the existing population will double itself in 14 years (2.26 crore in 2015).

(1 crore = 10 million)

Depressing news from Bombay (Mumbai) today..... so it is a good time to distract myself with other news snippets this lunch hour - after not doing so for almost a week now!!

Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett dies aged 60

Letters reveal relative truth of Einstein's family life

Also read this story from some years ago that indirectly alluded to a certain closeness with his secretary, 'Johanna Fantova, 22 years younger than Einstein, who shared the last years of his life with the scientist. They would sail together, speak frequently on the telephone and discuss the many visitors the ailing Einstein received at his home in New Jersey. The relationship is revealed in a 62-page diary written by Fantova and discovered among her papers in February (2004). Written in German it covers the last year and a half of Einstein's life from October 1953 to April 1955.'

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Other miscellaneous news items from here and there...

Wired wigs help students cheat in exams

Brazilian ministry left red-faced over call girl manual

Guy trades/barters his way up from a paper clip to a house!!

Man, 83, is oldest pro baseball player

Funny... How to use an Indian Toilet - an illustrative teaching guide ;)

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The 2006 BBC Jazz Awards will be announced on July 13th.

Watch this space for winners... but check out the nominated musicians at the web site.

Also, get a flavor of some of the nominated musicians on this week's (July 5th) Mel Hill's fantastic Jazz show on BBC Radio

Indians in the news... for some very different kinds of talents.. whatever they are worth for! :)

1. NRI breaks American pi record
Gaurav Raja, a 15-year-old Indian American high school student, has memorised 10,980 digits of pi, a mathematical term representing the ratio of a circle's circumference to the diameter, to break a North American record. Hiroyuki Goto of Japan set the world record in 1995 by memorising 42,195 digits of pi.

2. Miniature Paper Boats
Shreenath Dikshit can make a single paper boat in less than 10 seconds and can fashion about 500-800 boats at a time. He has just made it to the Limca Book of Records for his skill in making miniature paper boats, a hobby he picked up as a child.

Read this op-ed piece by Pankaj Mishra in the NY Times

The Myth of the New India


More about this later...