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Computing, Libraries, Tennis, India & other interests of Vikas Kamat
| My Underwear Museum |  | ||
| (First posted to my Facebook wall on June 12, 2022) I have been going to India to visit my parents for 30 years and all the returning flights to USA start very late in the night and I always have to leave the last pair of underwear behind (long flight, no time to wash etc). It happens each time, so in my mom's house there is a closet drawer called "Vikas's Clothes' and they're full of long-lost memories. Remember the year there was the tsunami and there was a tremendous shortage of underwear (because folks lost everything)?. That time I asked my mom before packing to India --"Mom, can you please tell me how many pairs of underwear do I have in your house?" She told me the count, and I didn't bring any. It was the biggest mistake. Because she had counted my underwear from when I was 15 years old. There were so many of them, but very few that fit. Now for Underwear Tour: There's the "Let me get Hanes on you" from Michael Jordan years. I remember the period of switching to boxers for "freedom of movement". There's the tube underwear (tight and very long). The tennis years of Andy Roddick undies. There's the time when some guest in the house mistook my underwear for his -- and he had elephant thighs and ruined the shape simply by trying them on. There's the K-Mart (who remembers K-Mart) ones and there's the ones that made me look fat. There's the tagless one, the elastic-less one, with pouch, without pouch, with fly, without fly, the draw-string ones, there's one with a pocket. (There was a time to carry loads of money in underwear pockets.). OMG I am an underwear connoisseur!
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| Historic Day in India | | ||
| As India celebrates re-opening of an ancient temple, these famous words are coming to my mind again and again:
A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance...
- Nehru 1947 (India's freedom movement went on for about 100 years. Fight for Rama temple has been going on for over 500 years.) Vikas Kamat/Kamat.com See Also: Babri Masjid, #Ramayana
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| Obituary: Henry Henzel | | ||
| For my friends in Birmingham -- who might have known Attorney Henry Henzel of Inverness -- he passed away last week.
I knew him over a 15 year period and I am deeply saddened by his death. Henry was the founder and President of Attorneys Insurance Mutual-- you know that company that insures attorneys against malpractice. He was very knowledgeable about the insurance, actuaries, risk retention models. He also knew a lot about the Constitution and history of the South. I learnt many things from him. He knew about dogs! I think his Dutch Shepherd "Forest" was the longest living dog of the breed. Henry had taught Forest how to read (it is true, you can Google it. German and Dutch Shepherds can recognize patterns). I think he must have spent a fortune treating his dog's cancer. Even the obituary asks for donation to a dog rescue. Henry was very eccentric man. He was very polite, very secretive, and very straight forward. He had this very old, very antique clock that no one could fix or make it work. He would not use Wi-fi. He didn't use computers that used CPUs made by Intel. My friendship with Henry was professional. A lot of folks didn't understand Henry's respect/affection for me, and he was always very kind and very sweet to me. I was told that he was ousted at the same company that he founded. I will miss Henry. I feel bad for his "Bonnie", his new dog he adopted after Forest died last year. See Also:
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| Voice of Yamuna Murthy | | ||
| Someone suggested I post some funny stories from my mother's life. Now that she is gone, we can talk and laugh about them! So, my mom is the boss of the state controlled radio station Akashavani, and there was a very popular radio anchor, Miss Yamuna Murthy. One day my mother tells me -- "I am very angry at Yamunamurthy today. I tried to reach the office via telephone four times and each time Yamunamurthy is answering the phone and telling me that there is nobody to take my phone call. She is being so difficult today. I cannot wait to speak with her about her behavior!" It turns out that the phone department --also state owned at that time -- had hired Ms. Yamnuamurthy to record all the phone error messages. So no matter who was calling whom, if there was a busy signal or a phone error (very common during those years in India), they were hearing Yamunamurthy's voice.
© K.L.Kamat Link to Yamuna Murthy's Video on YouTube. See Also: My Days in All India Radio
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| Suragya Sar- Tribute to Amma in Konkani | | ||
| "Suragya" is an exotic flower in India, the fragrance of which spreads very far. (Wikipedia Link) The amazing quality of the flower is that the fragrance remains after the death of the flower --for years. I find it very apt that a tribute to my mother (to be streamed tomorrow is called Garland of Suragya Flowers". It is produced by Wold Konkani Heritage Center -- so friends who understand Konkani language, please tune in!
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| Obituary: Pushpa Prabhu | | ||
| My aunt Pushpa Prabhu of Kumta passed away today in Bengaluru. People said she was as brilliant as her brothers Krishnanand (my dad) and Tulasidas --in memory power and arithmatic. But because she was a girl (in rural India), she was not offered much education and her brilliance came out in home-making. I have very fond memories of spending summers with her (even though she is my aunt, I called her Pushpakka or elder-sister, as was the norm). She had a great sense of "Kamat humor", she was a database of births, deaths, and anniversaries and was an enthusiastic match-maker. She was a great cook like her mother. She was 72 and was in good health, and died of a massive heart attack. I have so many stories of her "arranging marriages" -- they will make for a good reading. Goodbye Pushpakka. I had not finished with you -- you left us unexpectedly! © K.L.Kamat See Also:
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| Amma is No More | | ||
| I regret to share that my mother, Dr. Jyotsna Kamat passed away today at her residence in Bengaluru. She was 86 and had been a patient of cancer.
© K.L.Kamat
Here is a brief biography (in Kannada)
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| Example of Blog to Future | | ||
| I turn 55 Today Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I turn 55 today. During all my youth I have waited for this day -- to hang up my shoes and tour the world. OK. OK. This is just a demo to show off Blog to the Future feature of Kamat Blogging Engine. Notice the date of the blog
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| Secrets of Happiness by Nemichandra | | ||
| After my father passed away, I thought I should write his biography and I had a title in my mind -- "Secrets of Happiness". LOL. My father had led a fascinating life/lifestyle. He was a US educated scientist (PhD from SUNY, 1966), but had suffered much humiliation in his home country, never got adequate employment and lived privately being a husband, a writer, a photographer, a student and a dad. People who came to his funeral told me "We can't ask that his soul rest in peace, because he had found the peace while he was living!" I never wrote my father's biography, but I am told that writer Nemichandra in her much popular "You can Change Your Life", ("Baduku Badalayisabahudu" in Kannada language) series has an entire chapter on my dad. I am so happy, because one of my regrets has been that because my dad was such a shy and private person, people didn't realize his caliber, his philosophy and his merits. My father shunned publicity. I should at least translate Nemichandra's article -- with her permission. But I think someone needs to translate the entire series. There are first person accounts of overcoming diffidence, battling health ailments and other "Secrets of Happiness". I have heard that all previous editions are sold out, and a 22nd edition has come out.
Links
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| Honor for Amma | | ||
| Just received word from Kanara Saraswat Association that my mother (Amma) will be honored on the occasion of International Women's Day on Mach 13 at 6:00 PM. "We are honoring you for your contributions to All India Radio, and for Kannada Literature through Electronic Media" -- the letter said. Invitation:
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