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Computing, Libraries, Tennis, India & other interests of Vikas Kamat
| Kamat's 70th Birthday |  | ||
| Content Overload at Kamat.com Had my father lived, he'd have entered his 70th year this month (born 1934). To mark the occasion I have added lots of new contents to Kamat's Potpourri. My goal is to at least one hundred new pages this month and take the number of pictures in our PICTURESearch to 10,000. Also, while the project is not quite complete, I am going to unveil Kamat Research Database, which is already fairly big. Of course, providing navigation all this ocean of content is quite a challenge, because I want the reader to view them without searching. So I have provided paging to our Content Explorer, thus even deeply embeded pictures and stories can be exposed. See Also:
Kannada Adage and Blog Diet Henceforth I am going to blog very little. Primary motivation to reduce blogging comes from the wisdom of a medieval Kannada poet Sarvajna. Adadeye maduvanu roodhiyolaguttamanu My Translation:
End of Learning Vacation I took my learning vacation to St. Louis and then to Ozark of the Lakes in Missouri. The arch is impressive, and the lake, very relaxing.
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| Ivan the Terrible | | ||
| Preparing for Hurricane Ivan I have said before that Bad Weather is Good Business. No longer. Hurrican Ivan is supposed to hit us in southern parts of USA late tonight, and there's widespead fear. The grocery-stores are out of food, and the highways are closed for south-bound traffic. This is the classic Man Vs Nature battle.
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| FireFox Browser | | ||
| FireFox Wish List Finally there seems to be a credible alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. I have been using FireFox for a couple of days, and I love it. However, there are a couple of things that I have gotten used to in IE: the Google Toolbar is the most prominent one (I know, there is PR tool, which I have installed; but I need the other buttons). I have also gotten used to drag-and-drop (in IE, you can highlight a piece of text and then drag and drop into form, or most commonly as I do, into the Google toolbar). I don't care for the RSS features anyway; I wish there was a way to turn it off.
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| Raja Rammanna No More | | ||
© K. L. Kamat Raja Ramanna (1925-2004) While I was a college student in Mysore studying engineering, many times, I'd walk in front of Raja Ramanna's house in Vanivilasapuram neighborhood hoping to get a glimpse of the famous scientist. I have seen him on several occasions, and have been very inspired by the fact that I lived just on the next block. I am sorry to learn that he passed away (link to Rediff story) in Mumbai today.
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| Hometown India | | ||
 I think it was Rajesh Jain who once proposed building of a content-mesh of every town and village of India. He wanted it organized by zipcodes (pincode). Since everybody would know their zipcode of interest, they could quickly manuever the mesh. I thought that building a India Wiki, if I may call this so, was a brilliant idea. But who will bell the cat? My Hometown India is not such an ambitious initiative, but is a start.
BBC: Historic Indo-Pak Meeting. We've heard that before. Many times before. My Father, in a 2001 letter: "...the leaders of the two nations have forgotten the mutual warmth and friendship the citizens of each country enjoyed at one time".
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| Amembal Dinkarrao | | ||
| D'Amel or Amembal Dinkarrao (1909 – 1990) Guest Entry by Prakash G. Burde If alive, Amembal Dinkarrao or D'Amel would have been 95 on September 24. Old time listeners of All India Radio would recall fondly his innumerable compositions used again and again as signature tunes. D'Amel is rightfully called as the Father of Orchestration of Hindustani classical music. It is necessary to differentiate in simple terms how difficult it must have been to set Indian or Hindustani classical themes, melodic and individualistic in nature in orchestration which is infact harmony based as is Western classical music. This very quality highlights the contributions of D'Amel. Though not trained in true Guru-Shishya Parampara in 'Gharana' style on one to one basis, D'Amel was a master craftsman when it came to orchestration. Have you heard of a conductor of musical ensemble without his baton leading the group as it were to its ultimate climax? Have you heard of a lead conductor being a part of the orchestration holding and playing a metal flute providing impeccable listening pleasure? D'Amel did this feat successfully from 1935 to 1966 on All India Radio Bombay Station for over 30 years! Born in Guwahati (North-East tip of India) D'Amel belonged to South Kanara Chitrapur community. He was a singer, harmonium player and conductor of Indian ensemble all rolled into one. Another oddity was he was little hard of hearing and in his later years he had turned totally stone-deaf. V.K. Narayan Menon, a musicologist, Indian Dance Expert and Founder Director of Prestigious National Centre of Performing Arts called him "Beethoven of India". Greatness of D'Amel lies in his expressive way of simplifying Raga music which even a novice could understand. A whole new generation in Independent India was brought up on his music could differentiate raga music from one melody to another. True to the motto of All India Radio, he propogated good music to common radio listeners. In 1947 with Independence came a ban on 'harmonium' – a foreign instrument with French reeds. Though this was a setback, it did not deter D'Amel. He took up simple metal flute and even presented full length events on All India Radio Bombay. He led a life of a saint steeped into spiritualism and ended his life like a Yogi in 1990.
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As a tribute to this "Beethoven of India", Kanara Saraswat Association is holding a live programme of his compositions and life and times in Karnataka Sangha, Matunga, Mumbai - 400 016, today (Saturday September 25, 2004). All are invited.| Memories of Bappa | | ||
| Today, the entire day I have been consumed by fond memories of my father (affectionately called Bappa). He would have turned 70 today. I present below a pencil sketch sent by a young admirer, who never met Kamat. "My impression of Dr. Kamat is only through his writings and photography" he says, but I am surprised how well he has captured Bappa's interests. The portrait looks a lot like Bappa, and the crow carrying the camera is very meanigful. Srikanta Dani
• Art Inspired by Kamat.com • Collages inspired by Kamat.com
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