Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

Readers may want to read my recent post on another blog here: Searching World eBook Library for my - Ravi S. Iyer - books, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2019/08/doing-world-ebook-library-search-for-my.html .

Readers may want to read my recent post on another blog here: Very happy that National Digital Library of India lists both of my books (ebook version) stored in World eBook Library, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2019/08/very-happy-that-national-digital.html .

Readers may want to read my recent post on another blog of mine: Got my author page on amazon.com and amazon.in, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2019/08/got-my-author-page-on-amazoncom-and.html .

In Sunday's The Hindu I read that Danny Kaye was one of the inspirational figures for Kishore Kumar (That eccentric genius named Kishore Kumar would have turned 90 this year, https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/that-eccentric-genius-named-kishore-kumar-would-have-turned-90-this-year/article29111131.ece ). An extract from it: "In Kishore’s home, along with those of K.L. Saigal and Rabindranath Tagore, it was Danny Kaye’s portrait that was prominently displayed. Kaye was the all-American entertainer who dabbled in all departments — acting, singing, comedy and dance — and Kishore took on this role enthusiastically." I do not recollect hearing of Danny Kaye. I looked up youtube for some song & dance videos of Danny Kaye. The first video I saw showed me how Kishore Kumar would have got his inspiration for his fun and freaky songs from Danny Kaye! Here's the video clip from the 1947 movie: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Danny Kaye As The Professor of...

Hmm. I would not have believed that such possibilities could be seriously considered in the 21st century, even though that seems to have been quite common before the second half of the 20th century. USA President Trump is quoted as saying, "Essentially it’s a large real estate deal" by this article: Trump: ‘$700M’ cost of Greenland is ‘hurting Denmark very badly’, https://nypost.com/2019/08/18/trump-700m-cost-of-greenland-is-hurting-denmark-very-badly/ . The article also says that Trump said that Denmark is economically supporting Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous region under Denmark's rule, and that such economic support costs Denmark $700 million (per year, I presume). The Danish government has said that Greenland is NOT FOR SALE, and seems to have been outraged by the idea. Note that Greenland already has a USA armed forces base on it. Trump is quoted by the article as saying, "Denmark, essentially, owns it. We’re very good allies with Denmark, we pr...

I read about this fire in the book, FDR by Jean Edward Smith. I found a wiki page on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire . According to the wiki page, the fire led to the death of 146 garment workers - 123 women and 23 men, who had got trapped in the 8th, 9th and 10th floors of a building in Greenwich village neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York City where the factory was located! It was a terrible and horrific tragedy. The doors to stairwells and fire exits were locked to supposedly prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to prevent theft! The elevator rescued some people but as the fire progressed the elevator could not be operated. The remaining people were trapped, with many jumping to their deaths. The wiki page states that most of the victims were recent immigrant women of Jewish and Italian background and aged 14 to 23! Yes, 14 to 23 years of age! My God! This happened around a century back in Manhattan, New York City! Just goes ...

Last updated on 15th Aug. 2019 CNN Anchor Chris Cuomo gets all worked up when he seems to have been baited in an orchestrated setup meant to incite him. And how was he incited? By being name-called 'Fredo'! BTW Chris Cuomo's elder brother is current Governor of New York state, USA. Here's a short video about the (presumed) setup and Chris Cuomo's later more balanced reaction: CNN Anchor Lashes Out at Man Who Called Him ‘Fredo’, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0eS-9v_Abo , 2 min. 10 secs published by Inside Edition on 13th Aug. 2019 The Godfather novel and movie were a rage in my youth in Bombay - around 1980s. The novel was an absolutely must-read cult classic book. It made a big impact on me with Michael Corleone being a gangster-yet-hero who turns the tables against his gang-family's enemy mob-families, and emerges the winner. Of course, it was fiction. Of course, mafia was bad stuff. But .... Today as I look back on my youth in Bombay days, I can...

When author of post or comment is not mentioned, it should be assumed that it is me (Ravi S. Iyer). To save time, I am usually not providing my FB post links but only contents. I am also not hyperlinking links. So readers will have to copy-paste links from this post onto a browser link box and then browse to that link. The tragic news makes it to CNN: Indian coffee tycoon V.G. Siddhartha found dead, https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/31/business/ccd-founder-body-found-siddhartha/index.html What I find difficult to understand is why could he not just declare bankruptcy? I do not know much about Indian bankruptcy laws but I guess that at the most your debtors can go for your assets mortgaged for loans (which they can go after, even if a person commits suicide, I guess). Was it then an issue of facing up to business failure? Losing face with friends & family? I don't know. Or was it loan sharks (unofficial lenders) threatening him? If that was the case, then it is really t...