Miscellaneous Facebook posts & comments in December 2018
When author of post or comment is not mentioned, it should be assumed that it is me (Ravi S. Iyer).
==============================================================
https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2377325399150690
Eddie Murphy with all his 10 kids (and wife, her mom and Eddie's mom) - https://www.instagram.com/p/Br0bsU2A6Cq/ .
For middle class Indians of my generation, one or two kids in a family is where it stops, with three kids being a rarity. So it is quite fascinating for me to see the USA film star have such a big family in today's age.
For more on the pic, see https://www.aol.com/article/entertainment/2018/12/27/eddie-murphy-poses-with-all-10-of-his-kids-for-the-first-time-pic/23627955/
===============================================================
https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2379144605635436
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6kV8BpbR8g, 1 min. 28 secs.
Rain could not deny the Indian cricket team the victory they deserved in this test match.
----
https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2379152578967972
Moment of great triumph for Indian cricket team and its captain Virat Kohli, as they have gone 2-1 up in the 4 match test series with one match to go, and retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy as the worst case scenario for them is Australia only drawing the series. Fittingly, one of the pics, which is shown in the preview on this post, has the star wicket takers, Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma, with what I think is the centurion, Cheteshwar Pujara (it seems it is Mohammad Shami and not Pujara as per one comment on the post), all with a stump souvenir each: https://twitter.com/imVkohli/status/1079227976393342976. The tweet also has a pic of the celebrating Indian team.
Fascinating to see Indian fast bowlers be so menacing! In my avid cricket fan days a few decades ago, India had only medium pace bowlers who were never menacing, whereas the top opposition teams like West Indies and Australia had top notch and very menacing fast bowlers - Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson etc.
===================================================================
https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2377747385775158
Insightful video about engineering concerns and management pressures interplay resulting in bad decisions for two NASA space shuttle disasters - Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003, among many other successful space shuttle flights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O_DMyHdq_M, 20 mins, published by the New York Times on 2nd June 2014
============================================================
FB post of mine, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2363207697229127, dated 10th Dec. 2018:
In my avid cricket fan days in the mid-70s to 80s, it was quite common to read about India fighting hard but losing to Australia in test matches in Australia. Somehow, Australia would snatch victory from the jaws of defeat whenever they landed into some big problem in a test match with India (and with many other countries' cricket teams). Great, for me an Indian, to see a different outcome for this first test match in the current series in Australia. But the Aussie tail sure did rattle the Indians including their captain, as can be seen from the body language while the Aussie tail was heroically trying, but eventually failed, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4t1izuBS-E
-----
===========================================================
From the 60s - In Baharon mein Akele na phiron, from Hindi film Mamta (1966), sung by Mohd. Rafi and Asha Bhonsale, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TT2jvDdQyc, 4 min. 14 secs.
Nice rendition maybe in the 2010s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RDs7_WKLsA, 3 min. 44 secs.
Another famous song from the same film, Rahen na rahen hum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDAyzXC-ayE - two versions of it sung by Lata, Suman and Rafi
========================================================
Superb rendition by Czech singers and orchestra of Kishore Kumar's great song - Pal pal dil ke paas from 1973 movie Blackmail, during a Sept. 2018 visit of President of India to Czech Republic (Slovakia is a different country from 1993).
https://www.facebook.com/PresidentOfIndia/videos/1783175085122418/?t=0
The original song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuRRXCuy-4, 5 min. 14 secs.
=================================================
FB post of mine, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2363181703898393, dated 10th Dec. 2018:
Let's go get it! A great success story of a USA Entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is an extraordinary thing, and has done a lot of good to the world that I have lived in, along with some undesirable things too. But, overall, I think entrepreneurship is great. Its excesses should be held in check by the legislators/rulers of the country. The problems occur when the legislators/rulers of the country become beholden to wealthy entrepreneurs and so are unable to hold their excesses in check.
But that should not mean that entrepreneurship is bad! No, not at all! The other side of the coin is bureaucratic apathy and that is horrifyingly dreadful. India used to suffer heavily from it prior to economic liberalization in early 1990s. Now too, one sees it in certain sectors in India but much lesser than what we have seen and experienced, or rather suffered from, prior to 1990s.
[Shares FB video: https://www.facebook.com/cnbc/videos/10155688230404369/ ]
------
FB post of mine, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2363167940566436, dated 10th Dec. 2018:
I was very inspired by Tagore's Gitanjali when, if I recall correctly, I first read it in my college days (late 70s and early 80s).
[Shares link: Today in History: Rabindranath Tagore awarded Nobel Prize in 1913 for Gitanjali, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/today-in-history-rabindranath-tagore-awarded-nobel-prize-in-1913-for-gitanjali/videoshow/67024957.cms ]
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From my FB post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2361398670743363, dated 8th Dec. 2018
Hindi film superstars during my youth - Dharmendra and Hema Malini - have aged well, as seen in this pic shared by their daughter Esha Deol on Dharmendra's 83rd birthday (today it seems), https://www.instagram.com/p/BrHMS9PhTD5/?utm_source=ig_embed.
Here's a Times of India article on it: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/dharmendra-celebrates-his-83rd-birthday-with-his-wife-hema-malini-and-daughter-esha-deol/articleshow/66998007.cms
I am very happy to see these stars looking good and happy. They gave me a lot of joy through their movies.
Perhaps their most famous movie together was Sholay, released in 1975, which has some other stars as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholay.
-----
Some comments from my on the above post:
In response to comment, "Wow! That’s what he looks like at 83 years old?", I (Ravi) wrote (slightly edited):
That's what the Times of India article said. I double-checked just now with his wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmendra. It says, born on 8 Dec. 1935. So he has completed 82 years yesterday, and today is the first day of his 83rd year, which I think is viewed as his 83rd birthday.
----
Hema Malini, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hema_Malini, is born on 16th Oct. 1948, and so has completed 70 years and is now running 71.
----
A song sung by Kishore Kumar with the main actor being Dharmendra that has stayed with me over the years, as it has a lot of philosophical content, and I come from a Railways family (my Dad worked with Central Railway), and have extensively travelled on suburban train, and have done fair amount of long-distance train travel. Gaadi bula rahi hain (the train is calling) from the 1974 movie, Dost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2lVtG3LWTk, 9 min. 31 secs. The priest who appears in parts of the song video is the mentor of Dharmendra in the film.
----
=======================================================
From my FB post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2360770600806170, 7th Dec. 2018:
Interesting report on Xinjiang, China! Note that SCMP is published from Hong Kong, which now is officially a Chinese territory (since 1997 when the British gave it back to China), but has a separate administration from that of mainland China.
[Shared link: Xinjiang explained, https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/329807061122870/ by FB user South China Morning Post]
From https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2358314231051807, 4th Dec.
Awesome concept!
[Link shared: https://www.facebook.com/TimesofIndia/videos/967794786751231/ is about a concept proposal "for high-speed underwater rail corridor between India and UAE." It may take only two hours for this train to travel from Fujairah in UAE to Mumbai in India.]
----
In response to a comment wondering about impact on underwater world, I (Ravi) wrote:
A valid point sir!
...
But then there are underwater tunnels like the one that connects UK to France, already, and they have been around for quite a few years. So maybe they have ways to avoid interfering with marine life.
----
In response to comment about India aping the West, I wrote:
Well, I think there is always an issue of material development vs. tradition. The West developed materially, especially in science & technology, leading to the West dominating the world for a few centuries almost till the end of the 20th century.
Now the Asian giants like China and India as well as Japan and South Korea have caught up with a lot of science & technology of the West. That's the good news. That includes this Facebook app. on Internet technology and computing hardware that we are using to interact right now.
What we need to do is find the right balance between technological modernity and traditional good values. If we shun technological modernity then we will open ourselves up to get dominated by those who progress in technological modernity (like the British were when they colonized us).
----
In response to comment about ecological impact, I wrote (slightly edited):
Valid point. Ecological impact is a serious, serious issue ... I think the unsaid reality is that all the people travel currently between Gulf and India is based on oil extracted from mother earth as that is what powers the flights! God knows what ecological impact such billions of barrels of oil being removed from mother earth will have! Science and technology, I think don't really know. ... The climate change challenge is another major issue. ... But very few countries are willing to stop using fossil fuel (oil & coal) as the alternatives are either expensive as of now, or are not there. Kerala is a coastal state. Rising sea level can be far more devastating to Kerala than the Kerala floods. .... We are caught up in some jam. ... And life goes on as people want good paying jobs and for that we need to be technologically competitive with rest of the world. So ecology and all that, essentially gets ignored. Such is life!
----
==============================================================
https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2377325399150690
Eddie Murphy with all his 10 kids (and wife, her mom and Eddie's mom) - https://www.instagram.com/p/Br0bsU2A6Cq/ .
For middle class Indians of my generation, one or two kids in a family is where it stops, with three kids being a rarity. So it is quite fascinating for me to see the USA film star have such a big family in today's age.
For more on the pic, see https://www.aol.com/article/entertainment/2018/12/27/eddie-murphy-poses-with-all-10-of-his-kids-for-the-first-time-pic/23627955/
===============================================================
https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2379144605635436
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6kV8BpbR8g, 1 min. 28 secs.
Rain could not deny the Indian cricket team the victory they deserved in this test match.
----
https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2379152578967972
Moment of great triumph for Indian cricket team and its captain Virat Kohli, as they have gone 2-1 up in the 4 match test series with one match to go, and retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy as the worst case scenario for them is Australia only drawing the series. Fittingly, one of the pics, which is shown in the preview on this post, has the star wicket takers, Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma, with what I think is the centurion, Cheteshwar Pujara (it seems it is Mohammad Shami and not Pujara as per one comment on the post), all with a stump souvenir each: https://twitter.com/imVkohli/status/1079227976393342976. The tweet also has a pic of the celebrating Indian team.
Fascinating to see Indian fast bowlers be so menacing! In my avid cricket fan days a few decades ago, India had only medium pace bowlers who were never menacing, whereas the top opposition teams like West Indies and Australia had top notch and very menacing fast bowlers - Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson etc.
===================================================================
https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2377747385775158
Insightful video about engineering concerns and management pressures interplay resulting in bad decisions for two NASA space shuttle disasters - Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003, among many other successful space shuttle flights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O_DMyHdq_M, 20 mins, published by the New York Times on 2nd June 2014
============================================================
FB post of mine, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2363207697229127, dated 10th Dec. 2018:
In my avid cricket fan days in the mid-70s to 80s, it was quite common to read about India fighting hard but losing to Australia in test matches in Australia. Somehow, Australia would snatch victory from the jaws of defeat whenever they landed into some big problem in a test match with India (and with many other countries' cricket teams). Great, for me an Indian, to see a different outcome for this first test match in the current series in Australia. But the Aussie tail sure did rattle the Indians including their captain, as can be seen from the body language while the Aussie tail was heroically trying, but eventually failed, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4t1izuBS-E
-----
===========================================================
From the 60s - In Baharon mein Akele na phiron, from Hindi film Mamta (1966), sung by Mohd. Rafi and Asha Bhonsale, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TT2jvDdQyc, 4 min. 14 secs.
Nice rendition maybe in the 2010s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RDs7_WKLsA, 3 min. 44 secs.
Another famous song from the same film, Rahen na rahen hum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDAyzXC-ayE - two versions of it sung by Lata, Suman and Rafi
========================================================
Superb rendition by Czech singers and orchestra of Kishore Kumar's great song - Pal pal dil ke paas from 1973 movie Blackmail, during a Sept. 2018 visit of President of India to Czech Republic (Slovakia is a different country from 1993).
https://www.facebook.com/PresidentOfIndia/videos/1783175085122418/?t=0
The original song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuRRXCuy-4, 5 min. 14 secs.
=================================================
FB post of mine, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2363181703898393, dated 10th Dec. 2018:
Let's go get it! A great success story of a USA Entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is an extraordinary thing, and has done a lot of good to the world that I have lived in, along with some undesirable things too. But, overall, I think entrepreneurship is great. Its excesses should be held in check by the legislators/rulers of the country. The problems occur when the legislators/rulers of the country become beholden to wealthy entrepreneurs and so are unable to hold their excesses in check.
But that should not mean that entrepreneurship is bad! No, not at all! The other side of the coin is bureaucratic apathy and that is horrifyingly dreadful. India used to suffer heavily from it prior to economic liberalization in early 1990s. Now too, one sees it in certain sectors in India but much lesser than what we have seen and experienced, or rather suffered from, prior to 1990s.
[Shares FB video: https://www.facebook.com/cnbc/videos/10155688230404369/ ]
------
FB post of mine, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2363167940566436, dated 10th Dec. 2018:
I was very inspired by Tagore's Gitanjali when, if I recall correctly, I first read it in my college days (late 70s and early 80s).
[Shares link: Today in History: Rabindranath Tagore awarded Nobel Prize in 1913 for Gitanjali, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/today-in-history-rabindranath-tagore-awarded-nobel-prize-in-1913-for-gitanjali/videoshow/67024957.cms ]
-----
From my FB post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2361398670743363, dated 8th Dec. 2018
Hindi film superstars during my youth - Dharmendra and Hema Malini - have aged well, as seen in this pic shared by their daughter Esha Deol on Dharmendra's 83rd birthday (today it seems), https://www.instagram.com/p/BrHMS9PhTD5/?utm_source=ig_embed.
Here's a Times of India article on it: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/dharmendra-celebrates-his-83rd-birthday-with-his-wife-hema-malini-and-daughter-esha-deol/articleshow/66998007.cms
I am very happy to see these stars looking good and happy. They gave me a lot of joy through their movies.
Perhaps their most famous movie together was Sholay, released in 1975, which has some other stars as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholay.
-----
Some comments from my on the above post:
In response to comment, "Wow! That’s what he looks like at 83 years old?", I (Ravi) wrote (slightly edited):
That's what the Times of India article said. I double-checked just now with his wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmendra. It says, born on 8 Dec. 1935. So he has completed 82 years yesterday, and today is the first day of his 83rd year, which I think is viewed as his 83rd birthday.
----
Hema Malini, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hema_Malini, is born on 16th Oct. 1948, and so has completed 70 years and is now running 71.
----
A song sung by Kishore Kumar with the main actor being Dharmendra that has stayed with me over the years, as it has a lot of philosophical content, and I come from a Railways family (my Dad worked with Central Railway), and have extensively travelled on suburban train, and have done fair amount of long-distance train travel. Gaadi bula rahi hain (the train is calling) from the 1974 movie, Dost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2lVtG3LWTk, 9 min. 31 secs. The priest who appears in parts of the song video is the mentor of Dharmendra in the film.
----
=======================================================
From my FB post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2360770600806170, 7th Dec. 2018:
Interesting report on Xinjiang, China! Note that SCMP is published from Hong Kong, which now is officially a Chinese territory (since 1997 when the British gave it back to China), but has a separate administration from that of mainland China.
[Shared link: Xinjiang explained, https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/329807061122870/ by FB user South China Morning Post]
=======================================================
From my FB post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2358642661018964, dated 5th Dec. 2018
Na to kaarvaan ki talaash hai - A very famous and long Qawwali from 1960 film Barsaat Ki Raat, having theme of romantic love and the tragic outcome dangers of it, and then getting into religious faith, relating love to God and bringing in Krishna (Hindu) and Allah (Islam) into the mix: 12 mins, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQRHuMBtOYY. The singers are Manna Dey, Mohd. Rafi, Asha Bhonsale and Sudha Malhotra.
One couplet from this song, I think, is really famous, sung by the lady who sings of the tragic nature of romantic love:
Jo davah ke naam pe zehar de
Usi charaghar ki talaash hai
Rough English translation would be:
He who gives poison in the name of medicine
(I) am in search of that medicine-man
========================================
From https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2358605437689353, dated 5th Dec.
An interesting rendition by Westerners of Fanna Fi Allah group of the Pakeezah (1972) emotional superhit song - Chalte Chalte. It is a little different from the original song but I liked it. Great to see some Westerners really get into such songs which are steeped in Indian culture (this is Muslim influenced part of Indian culture). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCl_KoUHtgQ, 7 min. 46 secs.
...
The original song, around 6 mins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flQb8zW7CrM
...
Nice rendition by a young girl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrg_r4UzN_o
===========================================
From https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2358576774358886, 4th Dec.
Terrific rendition by orchestra and singer of a superhit Hindi film oldie song!
[Shared Video: https://www.facebook.com/worldofmusic.xyz/videos/271909223443097/
Tum agar sath Dene ka Wada karo...
Sung by Vaibhav Vashishtha in Hemant Kumar Musical Group.]
======================================================
From https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2360193100863920, 7th Dec.
Fascinating to see a Pakistani singer, Khalid Baig, sing Mohd. Rafi's songs so well in recent times (this seems to be in 2012). Here's him singing the superhit oldie from 1968 film, Brahmachari - Aaj kal tere mere pyar ke charche, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2lwtfwWJKY, 4 min. 26 secs on what seems to be a Pakistani TV channel
...
And here's the original (1968). Note that Shammi Kapoor (actor) seems to "take inspiration" from Elvis Presley. The actress is Mumtaz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDXB6W9JDeg
=======================================================
From my FB post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2358642661018964, dated 5th Dec. 2018
Na to kaarvaan ki talaash hai - A very famous and long Qawwali from 1960 film Barsaat Ki Raat, having theme of romantic love and the tragic outcome dangers of it, and then getting into religious faith, relating love to God and bringing in Krishna (Hindu) and Allah (Islam) into the mix: 12 mins, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQRHuMBtOYY. The singers are Manna Dey, Mohd. Rafi, Asha Bhonsale and Sudha Malhotra.
One couplet from this song, I think, is really famous, sung by the lady who sings of the tragic nature of romantic love:
Jo davah ke naam pe zehar de
Usi charaghar ki talaash hai
Rough English translation would be:
He who gives poison in the name of medicine
(I) am in search of that medicine-man
========================================
From https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2358605437689353, dated 5th Dec.
An interesting rendition by Westerners of Fanna Fi Allah group of the Pakeezah (1972) emotional superhit song - Chalte Chalte. It is a little different from the original song but I liked it. Great to see some Westerners really get into such songs which are steeped in Indian culture (this is Muslim influenced part of Indian culture). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCl_KoUHtgQ, 7 min. 46 secs.
...
The original song, around 6 mins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flQb8zW7CrM
...
Nice rendition by a young girl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrg_r4UzN_o
===========================================
From https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2358576774358886, 4th Dec.
Terrific rendition by orchestra and singer of a superhit Hindi film oldie song!
[Shared Video: https://www.facebook.com/worldofmusic.xyz/videos/271909223443097/
Tum agar sath Dene ka Wada karo...
Sung by Vaibhav Vashishtha in Hemant Kumar Musical Group.]
======================================================
From https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2360193100863920, 7th Dec.
Fascinating to see a Pakistani singer, Khalid Baig, sing Mohd. Rafi's songs so well in recent times (this seems to be in 2012). Here's him singing the superhit oldie from 1968 film, Brahmachari - Aaj kal tere mere pyar ke charche, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2lwtfwWJKY, 4 min. 26 secs on what seems to be a Pakistani TV channel
...
And here's the original (1968). Note that Shammi Kapoor (actor) seems to "take inspiration" from Elvis Presley. The actress is Mumtaz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDXB6W9JDeg
=======================================================
Awesome concept!
[Link shared: https://www.facebook.com/TimesofIndia/videos/967794786751231/ is about a concept proposal "for high-speed underwater rail corridor between India and UAE." It may take only two hours for this train to travel from Fujairah in UAE to Mumbai in India.]
----
In response to a comment wondering about impact on underwater world, I (Ravi) wrote:
A valid point sir!
...
But then there are underwater tunnels like the one that connects UK to France, already, and they have been around for quite a few years. So maybe they have ways to avoid interfering with marine life.
----
In response to comment about India aping the West, I wrote:
Well, I think there is always an issue of material development vs. tradition. The West developed materially, especially in science & technology, leading to the West dominating the world for a few centuries almost till the end of the 20th century.
Now the Asian giants like China and India as well as Japan and South Korea have caught up with a lot of science & technology of the West. That's the good news. That includes this Facebook app. on Internet technology and computing hardware that we are using to interact right now.
What we need to do is find the right balance between technological modernity and traditional good values. If we shun technological modernity then we will open ourselves up to get dominated by those who progress in technological modernity (like the British were when they colonized us).
----
In response to comment about ecological impact, I wrote (slightly edited):
Valid point. Ecological impact is a serious, serious issue ... I think the unsaid reality is that all the people travel currently between Gulf and India is based on oil extracted from mother earth as that is what powers the flights! God knows what ecological impact such billions of barrels of oil being removed from mother earth will have! Science and technology, I think don't really know. ... The climate change challenge is another major issue. ... But very few countries are willing to stop using fossil fuel (oil & coal) as the alternatives are either expensive as of now, or are not there. Kerala is a coastal state. Rising sea level can be far more devastating to Kerala than the Kerala floods. .... We are caught up in some jam. ... And life goes on as people want good paying jobs and for that we need to be technologically competitive with rest of the world. So ecology and all that, essentially gets ignored. Such is life!
----
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